Monday, August 9, 2010

William Gale - Evensong




Price Realized £4,800

signed with monogram and dated 'W.G./1858' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed '"Evensong"/W.Gale.' (on the reverse)
oil on panel
8 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (21.9 x 16.2 cm.)

Two of Gale's submissions to the Royal Academy of 1858 were subjects inspired by Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline, in which the eponymous heroine, suffused with religious feeling, inhabits an American Arcadia. A similar spirit pervades this picture, painted in a richly detailed Pre-Raphaelite technique on a wet white ground, which gives it a remarkable luminosity of colour.

No comments: