C&c isabella daly a2 coursework part 2

Isabella Daly New College 66528

Critical and Contextual Studies – A2 Coursework Part 2

Personal Investigation I have personally decided that for my final outcome I would like to work on designing and exhibition of sorts, this will not only include the pieces of work that will be featured in the exhibition but I shall also be working on some promotional material for it as well, such as designing a poster.

From the work that we have already done I specifically found the Vanitas paintings we have been looking art very exciting due to the such large amounts of symbolism that are displayed throughout them. It’s for this reason why I am deciding that all the paintings that will feature in my exhibition to have a heavy emphasis on the use of symbolism.

As I now begin to start my personal investigation on the idea of symbolism the first painting I’m going to be looking at is, in my opinion, quite a modest and delicate painting titled ’Ophelia’ by Sir John Everett Millais between 1851-2 painted on a scale of 762 x 1118mm with oil on canvas. Before I begin looking into the painting itself, I decided to have a look into the very interesting movement that this painting was created during. Millais was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which was formed in 1848 by a group of young artists (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Thomas Woolner, William Holman Hunt, Frederic George Stephens, James Collinson, and the painter who I’m about to look at, Millais) who although initially intended to be a secret group, the use of their initials “PRB” ended up being surfaced to the public. Together they were joined as a group who were revolting against current art being created, specifically the British Royal Academy and their continuously regurgitated approach to the instruction of art, whereby they believed that the art that was being created saw the drastic shift between them and the art that was being created around them at the time. They came to the conclusion that in the time they lived in with such a great expansion on the industrial revolution and scientific discovery the art world needed a revival and to be taken back to the time prior to Raphael (hence the name Pre-Raphaelite) where they admired work that had a very distinct medieval appearance.

One of the most important ideas of the group was the incorporation of nature, which had to be studied intently so it could be expressed and represented accurately with very high levels of realism that had large amounts of effort, patience and passion gone into the works in order to achieve this. Tying in with this, when it did come to subject matter, there was a substantial amount of inspiration that came from various different myths, legends, writers like Shakespeare and Keats, along with lovely long haired ladies which make frequent appearances throughout the Pre-Raphaelite artwork.

PRE-RAPHAELITE

We already know from the title of this painting, the figure depicted here is Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. From what I previously said, it was common for Shakespeare to be a recurring inspiration for the painters of the Pre-Raphaelite genre, and Ophelia was a very popular figure, so it’s no surprise that Millais decided to paint her. Here she is depicted in one of her most well known scenes of when she is driven mad due to her father being murdered and as a result drowns herself in a stream.

If we start off by taking a closer look at Ophelia, even though she is currently floating in the water we can see that middle part of her body is beginning to sink, and how there is the mixture of weight between her dress that is not only allowing parts of her to float but also sink.

Her hands are also propped upward in a pose that represents submission, she is accepting her fate. This idea can be further shown from the lines of the painting that our eye naturally follows as the direction of the current goes towards the left, an indication of the past.

Showing us that due to her death, Ophelia no longer has a future before her. This is then accentuated from the direction of the light coming from the right side of the painting, leaving the direction which she is floating towards being in the darkness and shadows.

Looking even more closely at the figure we can see that she is surrounded by various flowers, where most of these either have symbolic value or are actually mentioned in the play. In order to get the high level of realism shown here he observed the flowers that were growing wild by the river in Ewell. However, because he did this over a series of months, there are some flowers put next to one another that bloom at different points during the year.

If you also look carefully you can spot some daffodils, but Millais did not see these while he was painting and making observations by the river in Ewell, instead he bought these from Covet Garden as he felt like the painting needed more yellow. Having said this though, one of his poet friends, Tennyson stated that perhaps daffodils weren’t an appropriate choice for the painting due to them giving off a false sense of hope within the piece. Although these aren’t definitely daffodils and could in fact be primroses which would make a lot sense as primrose is a flower that is spoken about a few times throughout the play.

Taking a closer look at the flowers I can identify a few different types: there are some roses positioned near Ophelia’s cheeks and dress, as well as on the bank which may have a connection to how in the play, Ophelia’s brother Laertres calls her ‘rose of May’.

Quite predictably, the nettles stand for pain, while the daisies stand for innocence, meanwhile the willow stands for forsaken love, whilst the pansies refer to a love in vain and the poppy standing for sleep and death. Looking towards her neck we notice that she’s wearing a chain of violets around her neck, these could represent either faithfulness, abstinence or death of the young, all of which could suitably apply here.

Continuing to look around the piece we can identify a robin in the top left hand corner sat amongst the branches of the willow tree, this could be a reference to the line of “For bonny sweet Robin is all my Joy” which is what Ophelia actually sings as she loses her mind. There are some other things it could also be referring to as well, like how birds are widely known for being a symbolic image for the spirit, and as we already know that she is floating down the river to the left hand side, in the direction of the past, not the future, it would make sense how as the bird is positioned on this side of the painting as well that it’s representing that as she floats away, her spirit is also fleeing from her human vessel.

As to specifically why a robin was used, one idea is due the striking and notorious red breast of this little bird and how traditionally the colour of red symbolises Martyrdom, which has implications of death, spilled blood and suffering. This idea can be further emphasised from the location of the bird amongst the undergrowth and mass of branches which illuminates the red breast even more so against the more duller earthy colours.

During the summertime, both male and female robins are fighting for territory amongst each other, as well as searching for mates, the fact that there is only one robin painted here could perhaps link to Ophelia’s abandonment

by Hamlet, that leads to her death…

If we now look to the right of the painting instead, to the left of where the forget-me-nots are, a number of people claim there to be a hidden skull where you can make out the hollow eyes and nose. This could be the use of a Momento Mori like we saw in the Vanitas paintings where by they are used as a reminder of death and immortality, or this simply could just be the light and shade shown through the foliage.

The symbolism shown throughout this painting even extends as far to the frame that has been used for the piece. During the Victorian period ivy was commonly used as a way to display the gender roles between both men and women, the woman being the ivy which needs to be supported by the strong and sturdy oak, or the man. Ivy also has very strong connections with the themes of decay and melancholy, and across the Romantic movement ivy covered ruins was definitely a popular motif.

Along with this, throughout Christian beliefs, ivy is actually linked to the idea of resurrection, from considering this, if we then look back to the actual figure of Ophelia we can see that the way in which she is positioned with her arms held creates a shape very similar to that of a cross.

Moving forward with my personal research on various paintings and artists that pay strong attention to the use of symbolism, I’m going to continue to look at work from the Pre-Raphaelite movement with the next piece I’m going to look at titled ‘The lady of Shallot’ by John William Waterhouse painted with oil on canvas in 1888 at a size of 153 x 200 cm actually has strong likenesses to the previous painting, feeling like we’re almost taking a step back in time to forty years prior, which as we know was when the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed. This can be shown from the subject matter of the painting being a young red haired woman and the garments she’s wearing, the setting she is in being along the river amidst amongst nature, and of course the poem by Tennyson (who the Pre-Raphaelites were very fond of) that the painting is interpreting. All of these combined actually create a strong link between this piece and the Millais’s ‘Ophelia’ (1852).

To give some actual context to the painting, the Lady of Shallot is a young maiden who due to a curse, lives completely isolated up in a castle with a river that leads down to Camelot. As a result of her curse, he is destined to spend her time alone in the castle weaving images of the world onto her loom, however, she is forbidden to look out of her window otherwise she will have to deal with the consequence of death upon her.

One day while looking in the mirror she catches the reflection of the knight Lancelot and instantly falls for him, due to this sudden infatuation with him, she decides to go against her curse and look directly at him through the window. With her strong lust of longing to meet him she then takes this further and leaves her castle and rides down to Camelot on a boat, although as she is flowing down the river her curse catches up with her and she dies before reaching the shore.

Before I start going into the symbolism of this painting, I first thought I would look more into the likeness between this piece and Millais’s ‘Ophelia’. If we look at the images below we see two sections of reeds, the image on the left shows part of Millais’s Ophelia (1851-52, oil on canvas, 762 x 1118mm) and on the right shows Waterhouse’s Lady of Shallot (1888, oil on canvas, 153 x 200cm), whereby if you look closely there’s actually quite an obvious difference between the technique that is used between the two pieces. All the works from when the PRB first began (including Ophelia) all have an extremely close and high attention to the detail that reflects John Ruskin (an English critic who’s influences were put forward due to his religious beliefs) and his principle of “truth to nature” which he deemed that it’s the job of the artist to observe the reality of our surroundings of nature rather than fabricating in studios.

When comparing these two sections of work together, as we then look at Waterhouse’s we can clearly see the difference in technique and how his is quite evidently looser and less precise or extreme with it’s accuracy of detail, showing his experimentation with French Impressionism with his obvious brushstrokes that Millais’s work lacks.

The Tapestry that drapes over the side of the boat even further emphasises this difference between the two works! In the early PRB, they were inspired by the use of such bright rich colours and intensely minute details of illustrated manuscripts and tapestries from the Medieval period. Where as Waterhouse was inspired by the methods and styles of the Impressionists working of En Plein Air, where all the bright jewel like tones are substituted with the use of silvers, greens and that often are used to portray a cool English day.

If we continue looking at the tapestry we can see that it is not only a representative link to the style of the Pre-Raphaelites with its high levels of detail, but it’s also a symbolic reference to her isolated life shut off from everyone where she spends her days depicting the world around her. The fact the figure has this with her shows us how she yearns to join the world around her and how’s she set out to try and achieve this.

We can also see that the figures left hand is reaching out to the side where she’s holding a chain that moors the boat and is a physical representation of her setting herself free to flow down the river to what she believes will be her freedom, and although she is in a sense ”freeing” herself it’s not in the way which she intends to but rather in the passing of her being a part of this world. There are a few objects within the painting that represent her fleeing from existence, such as the set of candles. As we know from previous paintings, the fact that two of them are blown out yet not fully burned out shows how her death is not naturally caused and with there still being candle lit shows us that her this fate is fast approaching. The evidence for her death is then further emphasised due to the crucifix that positioned alongside the candles, which is quite noticeably also bringing a link to religion, an on-going theme of important throughout the works of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Taking a closer inspection at the Lady herself you notice that her lips are slightly parted with her mouth open which is used to signify the fact that she is ‘singing her last song’ which is a direct depiction from the poem, shown by where it says: “A longdrawn carol, mournful, holy, She chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her eyes were darken’d wholly, And her smooth face sharpen’d slowly,”

From gazing upon the figure the presence of misery is very evident, along with singing her last song, the bewildered expression she wears, and her unkempt flowing hair both give us the indication of her lack of control of not only her life up until now but also her future of inevitable doom, perhaps this is to show an underlying reference to the ranking of which woman had during Britain at this time and their lack of political power?

The lack of other figures within this painting also puts a greater strain on the loneliness of the Lady and the use of the dark, fairly dull colours chosen for the woodland adds to this and creates the heavy feeling of this suppression and negativity, and the soon to follow great tragedy of the Lady. This is then counterbalanced by the light white colour of her dress that symbolises her innocence and purity, she may have gone against her curse, but only for the sake of her happiness. She may have done wrong but by no means has she sinned, and how this very light colour of her dress reflects how in reality, the Lady does not deserve the unescapable fate of death that lays before her. Meanwhile the use of Aerial Perspective (the technique of having the landscape shown in the distance be of a more lighter and fainter colour palette than that of the foreground) and being at a direct diagonal from the Lady could be used to represent the pure positive intentions of her trying to escape?

While continuing to look for more Pre-Raphaelite paintings, I came across this piece which I found to personally stand out quite a lot to me. In the previous two pieces I’ve looked at, they both look at female figures within fiction, where as this painting titled ‘The Awakening Conscience’ by William Holman Hunt painted in 1853 at 76.2 x 55.9cm on canvas with oil, is somewhat more of a rare find within the movement of PreRaphaelite as it actually depicts a subjects that’s from contemporary life. Having said that though, it still reflects the style by retaining the ‘truth to nature’ and the incredibly high level detail, as Hunt also had the strong opinion shared amongst the Pre-Raphaelite artists of how an artists should be recreating a scene as accurately as possible and be painting directly from observation. Hunt was actually one of the cofounders of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood, along with his dear friend Millais who was the painter of the previous piece I looked at ‘Ophelia’. Even though the group broke up after five years, Hunt still remained true to the ideals from the Brotherhood throughout the rest of his life. In order to achieve the great detail shown in this piece, Hunt hired out a room to use in the Woodbine Villa in the neighbourhood of St John’s Wood in Northwest London that was a ‘maison de concenance’, or in other words a brothel which has a direct link with the actual scene that’s being depicted in this piece.

The painting itself is incredibly informative from the large amount of symbolism that is shown throughout the piece that reveals a lot to us as the viewer. Based on the location of where the room used for the painting actually is and the function of it, we already have a clear indication as to the content of the piece. In this painting there are two figures present here, one being a young man that we can assume is well to do due to his attire, who is visiting his mistress whom lodges in this room where he visits her whenever he pleases.

There are some indications that back up the fact that the young women shown here is of this particular sort, of the most obvious is the attire she’s in, or rather the lack of it. We can see that she is in a lace-hemmed petticoat, in other words, her underwear, this show us a lack of respect that this female has for herself and her role in society.

If we then take a closer look at her appearance we can see that she has a ring on each one of her fingers except her wedding ring finger, showing us that not only is she unmarried but she is spoilt as a kept woman where she is entirely dependant of the support of the young man she’s sat on and how her fate lies in his hands. If at any point he were to decide he no longer wishes to have her, she would have nothing and no one and most likely have to resort to prostitution in order to survive.

Throughout Victorian Art, the theme of fallen woman was very prominent as it reflected the wide spread presence of prostitution that was occurring during society at the time. In comparison to other paintings that also show this idea, Hunt’s piece is actually deemed to be fairly unusual. If we take a look at Richard Redgrave’s painting of ‘The Outcast’ (1851), for example, this shows a young unwed mother with her baby being thrown out into the cold winter night by her shame filled father as the rest of the family plead for mercy. It was frequent that paintings of this period had a great emphasis of the perils of going outside of what was deemed to be acceptable and proper for woman, which usually led to the outcome of these woman being rejected, most likely then followed by a premature death. Hunt’s painting here shows a very different contrasting view to this and instead gives out the feeling of hope within the young woman as she regrets the life she has so far led but has the strive to try and claim her life back as her own.

Both the hat and the book on the table gives us a further insight as to how the young man is just a visitor and not a permanent resident of the house, while the black book also relates to how Hunt had plans to educate is barely literate girlfriend Annie Miller, who also just so happened to be who he used as model for the young female figure shown in the painting. Although, another thing we also know about this painting is that the first owner of this piece actually asked for Hunt to repaint the young woman’s face as he found the expression she wore to be far too painful to bare with. As a result of this, it makes even more sense as to why her face is so heavily illuminated from the light of the window.

Moving on if we then look at the cat hidden under the table this shows us an element of promiscuity present which we know is definitely something that’s present throughout the context of the painting. However, the fact that the cat is playing with a bird not only suggests about how the man is toying about with his mistress (shown as the bird) and not treating her with the respect of a normal woman, but the fact the bird is actually escaping suggests that there might be both hope and salvation for her. If we then go to the top of the painting, the golden clock is decorated with Chastity binding Cupid, the god of love, this gives us the impression that the gentlemen will not have his selfish, horrible way. While the picture on the wall behind shows the biblical story of the woman who has been taken by the hands of adultery.

This isn’t just all there is to this piece though, we can see that the couple are sat at the piano and are in the middle of reciting a song. The sheet music on the piano shows us that the song is Thomas Moore’s ’Oft in the Stilly Night’ which is about a woman reflecting upon her childhood innocence, as a result from this it awakens part of her conscience that causes her to look almost as if she is springing up from the mans lap, while he continuous to sing and play the piano as he remains completely oblivious to this sudden realisation that is being put into place. This idea is then further backed up from the sheet music that is also present on the floor that’s titled “Tears Idle Tears” that was a musical adaptation by Edward Lear of the poem by Tennyson (who also wrote the poem of the Lady of Shallot that the painting I last looked at). This poem contrasted the juxtaposing idea of past innocence and present wretchedness, which as we have already established, is a thought process that the young female figure in this painting is currently in the midst of comprehending.

From the reflection in the mirror we can see that the young woman is gazing out the window she rises slighting onto the bright sunny garden outside. There’s more of a meaning to this than just the surface appearance as the light actually represents Jesus Christ as The Light of the World, the title of this paintings companion piece that represented salvation. If we also take note of the white roses, these are a traditional symbol of purity.

Cupid actually makes another appearance in this painting, the design of the wallpaper provides some added symbolism towards the painting. We can see that the both the corn and the vine are supposedly being guarded by Cupid, who is actually doing a very poor job by sleeping which allows the birds to come and steal the fruit. The implications of this are like how the farmer must guard his crops, the young women must also guard her chastity.

The flowers that are also shown on the piano next to the clock are convolvulus, a flower that tangles itself amongst other plants that displays the conflicting and complicating relationship of the women in her current state. This can also be shown from the tapestry that’s being unravelled into tangled strands of wool, meanwhile the light shown in this corner of the room is symbolic of the girls salvation.

The discarded soiled white glove located in this area of the piece is also a representation of the young woman’s fate as she continues to stay in the position she’s in with her lover.

Similarly to ‘Ophelia’ that I looked at previously, this painting also has a fairly elaborately decorated frame which Hunt designed himself with the different details to have relevant meanings. The marigolds symbolise sorrow while the bells show danger. He also included a quote from the bible saying: “As be that taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart” which he claimed to have used as part of his inspiration.

Moving forward onto my next painting titled ‘Thoughts of the Past’ by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope painted in oil on canvas as a size of 86.4 x 50.8cm in 1859, is somewhat similar to the last in that it is once again looking at the idea of the ‘fallen woman’, a very popular theme artists looked at during the Victorian period especially for the Pre-Raphaelites and those who followed alongside them. This was a modern subject matter which we know looked at women who had taken to prostitution as a last resort due to the inability to live substantially because of the horrific economic circumstances along with actually being a woman during this time.

The painting itself depicts a young female figure in front of a window that looks out onto the Thames River which is busy with an array of different boats as well as showing not only Waterloo bridge but also The Strand, this was a very busy main road in London that was rather popular for prostitutes during this time period. As we fully know that as part of the Pre-Raphaelite way of creating artwork, one of the main aspects of it was to remain truthful and realistic, so like with a number of the previous paintings I have looked at, the painter actually painted from a real life setting. Stanhope was actually friends with Rossetti, (a member of the PRB and one of his first introductions into this community and way of working) and the location of which he painted this image from was in a studio below his beside the Thames at Chatham Place.

However, there was actually a purpose for choosing this specific location for the painting other than the fact it was close to The Strand. Along the same lines of the emphasis on the prostitution theme, during the Victorian time period, one of the major problems of the significant amount of prostitutes that were about was their association of being a threat to the public health in terms of spreading disease.

Similarly the river was also a public health issue, specifically during the summer of 1858 was so called “the Big Stink” when central London had the constant and incredibly potent smell of raw sewage rising from the river lingering.

It’s already clear to our knowledge that both Victorian art and literature focussed on prostitution, but it also frequently looked at woman who had been forced into this position committing suicide as the only means of redemption, which was usually by drowning. An example of this is George Frederick Watt’s painting titled ‘Found Drowned’ (oil on canvas in 1848-50). From what this painting shows it does not give off and warm and pleasant feelings for the fate of the young girl shown in the current painting.

We can see that the young girl in this painting isn’t actually looking out the window onto the busy London river but instead, with a solemn expression upon her face, is gazing outwards of the painting while appearing to be paused in the action of brushing her hair (as shown from how she holding onto both her hair and a brush). From this we could assume that either she is potentially caught in a trail of thought associated with the idea of this woeful resort most likely being her future, or due to the title of the painting she could equally be thinking of the contrasting but equally harrowing memory of the past.

There are a number of different indications throughout the painting that emphasis the position of this woman in society and the role she plays, one of the most notable is the females hair, where by it has almost been made into somewhat of a focal point of the painting from how I already discussed that she is in the midst of brushing but also from how it contrasts so greatly with the robe she is clothed in that’s of a deep purple colour that also stands as another indication, yet the small white fabric peeping through this robe could represent the last remaining shred of hope of a better life that this young woman has, like that in ‘The Awakening Conscience’ but with our young woman present here having this on most likely a less positive, epiphany like level of realisation. She’s merely looking back on and remembering the innocence of her youth rather than making the decision to confront it, which is what was hinted and suggested at with the last painting.

The use of the red hair was also a frequently incorporated feature of the Pre-Raphaelite painters that relates very strongly to the traditional images of the biblical character Mary Magdalene, who she herself was also a “lady of the night”. An example of this is shown here simply titled ‘Mary Magdalene’ that was painted in the Renaissance period by Bernardino Luini and Andrea Solario in 1524 on panel in oil at a size of (75.5 x 59.2 x 2.5 cm), where the young woman in the current painting I‘m looking does indeed share a strong resemblance to Mary.

Looking to the left of the figure I can also identify some rather feeble and frail looking plants that are reaching up to just about catch the light from the open window which actually poses as a potential threat, making the plants susceptible to the dirty plume of black soot. Perhaps this could be foreshadowing the most likely wretched destiny of the young woman’s passing.

Placed below this shows a man’s glove and a walking stick on the floor, most likely indicating the presence of one of our young lady’s clients, which would explain the reasoning for not only her being shown in a dressing gown but also as to why she’s currently brushing her hair. She’s probably preparing herself for a imminent encounter.

As we then travel to the right side of the painting, on the table we can see a pile of jewellery, another obvious representation of role this woman plays as a “fallen woman”. Also on the table we can see a small pile of money which is most likely payment from the owner of both the discarded glove and walking stick that I previously mentioned above.

Finally if we look at the floor directly below we can see a small bundle of flowers, a feature that’s incredibly popular within art to be used as a form of symbolism, where by these particular flowers, which we can identify as violets, are a symbol of faithfulness.

Although, the fact that these have been cast aside to wilt and decay represents that within the flowers there may be a symbol of love but in reality this love is non existent and not meaningful due to the fact she is a woman of service. They could also represent how initially she was and still is a beautiful young woman who may have had a hopeful chance but due to the decisions and events of her life, she has taken a downward and bleak path for her future. This may also be linking back to the title of the painting and the possibility of the figure in this painting reflecting on her somewhat negatively rounded life.

I previously touched on the fact that Stanhope was actually friends with the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood member Rossetti, who actually informs us that initially this painting was meant to be one of the components of a Diptych which is when you have two paintings or a painting split into two parts, which was usually an altarpiece where the two segments would be displayed as part of two hinged wooden panels that may be closed, similar to a book. We’re told that this Diptych was meant to show us the theme of “unfortunate” within two different phases of the young woman’s life. Obviously the second section was never completed, however, we can guess that it may have either shown the future in where her life is heading like I previously spoke about with the bleak and dark fate of potentially death (from drowning maybe?). Alternatively it may have shown how the figure came to be in the current situation she’s in, which could be what she may be reflecting upon in this current piece.