Painting
Oil on canvas
114 cm × 74 cm (45 in × 29 in)

Wikimedia Commons

Mariana in the South is an oil painting in the Pre-RaphaeliteGroup of English artists formed in 1848 to counter what they saw as the corrupting influence of the late-Renaissance painter Raphael. style by John William WaterhouseEnglish artist known primarily for his depictions of women set in scenes from myth, legend or poetry. He is the best known of that group of artists who from the 1880s revived the literary themes favoured by the Pre-Raphaelites. (1849–1917), painted in 1897.[1] Like many of Waterhouse’s later works, the picture contains only a single – almost invariably female – figure.[2]

The picture depicts a young woman in a flowing dress kneeling in front of a large oval mirror in a wooden frame. Some letters and envelopes in the foreground, perhaps from her lost love, hint at the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) which inspired the painting, and in particular the line “And in the liquid mirror glowed the clear perfection of her face”.[1][a]The theme of Tennyson’s poem is the desolate loneliness of spurned love.[3]

In 1927 the painting was sold at auction in London for £525, equivalent to about £42,000 as at 2024.[4][b]Calculated using the retail price index.[5] It was subsequently bequeathed by Cecil French to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1954.[1]

Notes

Notes
a The theme of Tennyson’s poem is the desolate loneliness of spurned love.[3]
b Calculated using the retail price index.[5]

References



Works cited


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