Saturday, March 30, 2013

Charles West Cope - Maiden Meditation (1847)




Maiden Meditation (1847). Charles West Cope (British, Victorian, 1811-1890). Oil on a gesso ground on canvas. V&A Museum.
This work is painted from a passage from Isaiah: ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for he hath clothed me with a robe of righteousness.’ The principal figure - a maiden kneeling in the attitude of devotion - is more allusive to prayer than to meditation. This literal rendering of the text is beautiful in its touching simplicity. The features of the maiden are lighted up with the fervour of admiration; but it is to be observed that it is extremely stiff and formal- the only weakness in this strikingly original production.

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