
In Tate Britain
- Artist
- Philip Hermogenes Calderon 1833–1898
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 914 × 679 mm
frame: 1205 × 980 × 104 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased 1947
- Reference
- N05780
Display caption
The title of this painting suggests that the woman has recently discovered that her lover, whose initials are carved in the fence, has been unfaithful. Further details, including the discarded necklace and dying flowers, indicate her unhappy situation. The ivy-covered wall may symbolise her previous belief that their love was everlasting. Disappointed love was a popular theme in Victorian painting, and viewers were expected to unravel the situation from the symbols and expressions of the characters.
Gallery label, July 2007
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- architecture(30,960)
-
- townscapes / man-made features(21,603)
-
- fence(429)
- emotions and human qualities(5,345)
- actions: processes and functions(2,161)
-
- looking / watching(581)
- woman(9,110)
- collapse(36)
- sex and relationships(833)
-
- infidelity(100)
You might like
-
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer A Dialogue at Waterloo
exhibited 1850 -
John Callcott Horsley The Pride of the Village
1839, exhibited 1839 -
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer Alexander and Diogenes
exhibited 1848 -
William Powell Frith The Derby Day
1856–8 -
Frank Holl Hush!
1877 -
Arthur Hughes April Love
1855–6 -
Augustus Leopold Egg Past and Present, No. 1
1858 -
John Roddam Spencer Stanhope Thoughts of the Past
exhibited 1859 -
Frederic George Stephens The Proposal (The Marquis and Griselda)
c.1850 -
Arthur Hughes Aurora Leigh’s Dismissal of Romney (‘The Tryst’)
1860 -
William Maw Egley Omnibus Life in London
1859 -
Richard Redgrave The Emigrant’s Last Sight of Home
1858 -
Abraham Solomon Waiting for the Verdict
1857 -
Abraham Solomon Not Guilty (The Acquittal)
exhibited 1857 -
James Collinson Home Again
1856