Jun 25
Eloisa and Abelard
Artist: Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale (British, 1872–1945)
Date: 1919
Medium: Watercolor
Collection: Private Collection
Description
Lines printed with the title: "From lips like these what precepts failed to move? / For soon they taught me, 'twas no sin to live" (from Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard). This was a popular subject in the nineteenth century, but it was apt to be more soulfully treated. Brickdale's early twentieth-century version, of the famous lovers stealing a secret kiss, is quite daring — especially in the Gothic context, with the figures in stained glass windows to witness them! Lavish in detail and colour, it has an altogether bolder feel to it.
#pre raphaelite art#interior scene#eloisa#abelard#lovers#pre raphaelite brotherhood#gothic style#figures#watercolor art#costume#wooden bench#kiss#cloak#books#desk#interior#curtains#artwork#fine art#20th century painting#modern art#british culture#british art#eleanor fortescue brickdale#british painter#european art#private collection
