Summary
This is the second of a set of three modern-life pictures on the theme of the fallen woman. The other two (N03278 and N03280) are also in the Tate collection. They are typical of the social moralist pictures that were popular in Victorian art.
The theme of the triptych is the discovery of the woman's infidelity and its consequences. In the first scene the family are still together, and the husband has just learned of his wife's adultery. The second scene is a dimly-lit garret, five years later. The room is sparsely furnished and the few decorations include two portraits of the absent mother and father. The father has recently died and the mother has been driven out of her home, a fallen woman. The two orphaned girls comfort each other, the elder gazing sadly over the rooftops towards the moon… (read more)
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