Art in Cambridge 2
The Fitzwilliam Museum (continued).
Personal favourites.
The Bridesmaid 1851
 |
| The Bridesmaid |
|
|
This bridesmaid is carrying out a popular Victorian superstition that if a bridesmaid passes a piece of wedding cake nine times through the bridal ring she will have a vision of her own future husband. This must have been a very messy procedure and I cannot imagine any present day bride being too keen for her new wedding ring to be used in this way.
Painted by John Everett Millais,1851
The Last of England 1860, Ford Maddox Brown
The young family pictured is embarking on the 3 month voyage to Australia encouraged by the Victoria goldrush in the1850s.The anxiety on their faces and the way the mother is holding the tiny baby's hand under her shawl is just as relevant today as we see the desperate look of so many immigrants moving around the world.
I find this painting especially touching as this is exactly what my great grandparents did in the 1880s ,they travelled not to mine for gold but to sew working clothes for miners in New South Wales.After ten years the whole adventure ended in disaster when my great grandfather dropped dead and my great grandmother had to return to England with 6 children and his body.
Springtime, Monet,1886
I have visited the Monet's garden in Giverny, France, several times and have found it enchanting whatever time of the year I have been.This is part of a family scene in the orchard.The dappled sunlight on the blossom and clothing typify the Impressionists use of colour and light.
Children Paddling,Walberswick,1894,Philip Wilson Steer
 |
| Paddling at Walberswick |
A good painting should touch something in the viewer and this reminds me of summer holidays when I was a child in the 1950s that were spent on the East coast of England.This painting shows the big East Anglian sky that enhances the colours of sand and water.
No comments:
Post a Comment