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| Charles Robert Leslie The Carved Room, Petworth House, Sussex ca. 1856 oil on panel Tate Britain |
"In the early 1830s J.M.W. Turner was a regular visitor to Petworth, the Sussex home of his patron Lord Egremont. The house contained a fine collection of old master and contemporary British paintings, and many artists were entertained there. . . . C.R. Leslie's first contact with Lord Egremont came in May 1823 when, at the suggestion of Thomas Phillips (Egremont's 'official' portraitist) he was asked to make a portrait of one of his grandchildren who was dying. . . . Of all the works by C.R. Leslie which owe their inspiration to Egremont and Petworth, this painting [above] is unique in being an exact record of one of the rooms in the house. . . . It shows the north-west end of the Carved Room, which takes its name from the carved wall panels which were completed by Grinling Gibbons in 1692. . . . So exact is Leslie's treatment of his subject that it is possible to identify the actual items of furniture and works of art in the room; all of them are still at Petworth."
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| Charles Robert Leslie Head of Prince Hal ca. 1851 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
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| John Linnell Reapers - Noonday Rest 1865 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
"Linnell's poetic visions of the countryside, far detached from the sometimes harsh realities of rural life, were much sought-after by collectors. This painting is a replica, by the artist, of a work he had sold in 1862. Linnell claimed that it was 'truer to Nature than most pictures'. However, he had been a friend of the visionary artists William Blake and Samuel Palmer, and there may be a more visionary quality to this scene."
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| John Linnell The Sandpits 1856 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
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| John Linnell Harvest Home - Sunset - The Last Load 1853 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
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| John Linnell Wood-cutting in Windsor Forest 1834-35 oil on panel Tate Britain |
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| John Linnell Contemplation 1864-65 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
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| William Holman Hunt Cornfield at Ewell 1849 oil on panel Tate Britain |
"An inscription on the label on the back of this sketch suggests that it was made on a farm owned by William Holman Hunt's uncle in Ewell, Surrey. It also implies that it was probably made outdoors on the spot. Painting directly from nature was central to the Pre-Raphaelite mission, and here Holman Hunt has captured the feeling of a seized moment on a hot day in late summer."
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| George Howard, ninth Earl of Carlisle View from the front of St John Lateran, Rome ca. 1870 watercolor Tate Britain |
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| Frederick Sandys Oriana 1861 oil on panel Tate Britain |
"The subject is taken from an early poem by Tennyson, The Ballad of Oriana, published in the Moxon edition of his Poems (1857). In the poem Oriana stands on the wall of a castle, watching her betrothed in battle below. An arrow meant for the knight strays, killing her instead. Sandys does not attempt to illustrate Tennyson's poem, but refers obliquely to one line of the ballad, 'She stood upon the castle wall'. . . . The artist's interest in fifteenth-century Flemish painting, particularly that of Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck, is apparent in the minute observation of the sitter's skin, hair and clothing, and in the detailed background landscape."
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| Edward Burne-Jones Sidonia von Bork, 1560 1860 gouache, watercolor Tate Britain |
"Sidonia von Bork is the central character in Wilhelm Meinhold's gothic romance Sidonia the Sorceress. The novel is set in sixteenth-century Pomerania and chronicles the crimes of the evil Sidonia, whose beauty captivates all who see her. She is shown here at the court of the dowager Duchess of Wolgast, one of the early intrigues in a career that leads to her execution as a witch. Many of the details of Sidonia's appearance are taken directly from Meinhold's description, but the costume is derived from a portrait of Isabella d'Este by Giulio Romano at Hampton Court."
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| Edward Burne-Jones Sisyphus ca. 1870 tempera on paper Tate Britain |
"The roundel was one of eight made to decorate a grand piano for MP William Graham, linked by the story of Orpheus – whose music charmed all who heard it – and his descent into the Underworld in an attempt to rescue Eurydice, his wife. The beauty of Orpheus's playing caused Sisyphus to pause in his eternal task of rolling a boulder uphill."
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| William Etty Standing Female Nude ca. 1835-40 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
"William Etty was responsible for raising the status of the female nude in Victorian art. Since there was no precedent for this genre of painting in English art, Etty looked to Venetian art for inspiration, as well as the sensuous handling and voluptuous nudes of Rubens. His fluid brushstrokes and warm rich colours also reflected the influence of Delacroix, who greatly admired Etty's work. . . . Some critics regarded Etty's belief in the importance of colour over design as unwholesome and his works were frequently attacked for their indecency and lack of finish. The Times considered them 'entirely too luscious for the public eye' and Thackeray warned of their intoxicating effect."
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| James McNeill Whistler Three Figures - Pink and Grey 1868-78 oil on canvas Tate Britain |
"The picture derives from one of six oil sketches that Whistler produced in 1868 as part of a plan for a frieze, commissioned by the businessman F.R. Leyland, founder of the Leyland Shipping Line. Known as the 'Six Projects' the sketches (now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington) were all scenes with women and flowers, and all six were strongly influenced by his admiration for Japanese art. . . . Although the three figures are clearly engaged in tending a flowering cherry tree, Whistler's aim in this picture is to create a mood or atmosphere, rather than to suggest any kind of theme. . . . It has been suggested that Whistler derived his colour scheme, and even the figures themselves, in their rhythmically flowing drapery, from polychrome Tanagra figures in the British Museum, which was opposite his studio in Great Russell Street."
– quoted passages based on notes by curators at Tate Britain