Ford Madox Brown
(England 16 Apr 1821–06 Oct 1893)
- Title
- Chaucer at the court of Edward III
- Other titles:
- Geoffrey Chaucer reading the "Legend of Custance" to Edward III and his court, at the palace of Sheen, on the anniversary of the Black Prince's forty-fifth birthday
- Year
- 1847-1851
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
372.0 x 296.0cm stretcher; 391.0 x 315.0 x 8.0cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed l.r., brown oil "F. MADOX BROWN". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1876
- Accession number
- 703
- Location
- 19th c European art
- Further information
Though never officially a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, this colleague of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris was, by inclination and practice, sympathetic to the realist ambitions of the movement. Born in Calais, Madox Brown studied in Belgium and was influenced by the German Nazarene painters in Rome before his first liaison with Pre-Raphaelitism. Working with pure colours and clear contours on a dazzling white ground, and carefully composing his subjects from well-lit life, Brown achieved a sense of pageantry in this tableau. Its lower portions are especially immediate, an extensive cleaning having revealed the glorious condition of the original paintwork. Though Brown began his original composition in Rome, the final canvas was begun in London in 1847, and completed in 1851. Rosetti modelled for Chaucer, while others of the Pre-Raphaelite circle appear as supernumeraries. It was Brown's desire in this, surely one of the greatest modern British paintings in Australia, to encapsulate an historical moment: the birth of the English language in the person of Chaucer. The Tate Gallery in London possesses a study for the work, exact in detail but much reduced in scale.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
- Provenance (3)
-
Ford Madox Brown (England, b.1821, d.1893), Nov 1863-Jun 1876, England, Purchased by the AGNSW from the artist 1876
D.T. White (England), 1855-Nov 1863, [dealer] Failed to sell at unspecified auction, thence sold to White for £50. Brown retreived the painting from White, November 1863, in exchange for six paintings.
Robert Dickinson (England), 1850-1855, London/England, [dealer] Sold to Dickinson for 85% of any future sale. Dickinson paid £20 on account to Madox Brown.
- Bibliography (39)
-
Mary Bennett (England) (Author), Ford Madox Brown: a catalogue raisonné, 2010, 53-54, 55 (colour illus.), 56-59. A40
John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), Art of Australia. Vol. 1: Exploration to Federation, Sydney, 2008, 250, 251 (colour illus.).
Susan Pearce (Author), Visions of antiquity, 2007, 136, 137 (illus.). fig.45
'The Chaucer Tales' by Jane Somerville, pg.18-19, Look Mar 2006, Mar 2006, 18 (colour illus.), 19.
Allen Staley, Christopher Newall, Pre-Raphaelite vision: truth to nature, 2004, 66, 67 (illus.). fig.16, illustrated in reference to cat.no. 26
Tim Barringer, Men at work: art and labour in Victorian Britain, 2004, (illus.).
Angus Trumble (Australia) (Curator), Love and Death: art in the age of Queen Victoria, Adelaide, 2001, 62 (colour illus.), 63, 66, 67 (colour illus.), 86, 194, 195 (colour illus.). the illustrations on page 62 and 67 are details
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 35 (colour illus.).
'Director's Introduction' pg. 5-7, Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 1999 1999, 1999, 6.
Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965, South Brisbane, 1998, 22.
Peter Tomory (United Kingdom) (Author), Anne Kirker (New Zealand; Australia, b.1947) (Author), British painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections, Sydney, 1997, 10 (colour illus.), 58. cat.no. 271
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 108, 132 (colour illus.), 133.
'Chaucer Gets A Facelift', pg. 9., Look Feb 1993, Feb 1993, 9 (colour illus.).
Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 44, 45 (illus.).
Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings, Sydney, 1987, 20 (illus.), 21.
Tate Britain (England) (Author), The Pre-Raphaelites, London, 1985. cat.no. 7
'The Pre-Raphaelites and Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts' by J. Treuherz., Pre-Raphaelite Papers 1985, 1985.
Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Editor), Jan Meek (Australia) (Editor), Portrait of a Gallery, Sydney, 1984, 14, 15 (colour illus.).
Christopher Wood (England, b.1941) (Author), The Pre-Raphaelites, London, 1981.
History and Legend in some selected paintings at the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1980, 1980, 15.
Sir Roy Colin Strong (England, b.1935) (Author), And when did you last see your father, 1978.
Lucy Rabin (Author), Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelite History Picture, New York, 1978, (illus.).
Acquisitions 1975 1975, 1975.
Allen Staley (Author), The Pre-Raphaelite Landscape, 1973.
Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 26 (colour illus.).
John Nicholl (Author), The Pre-Raphaelites, 1970.
Manchester City Art Gallery (England) (Author), Ford Madox Brown 1821-1893, Manchester, 1964, (illus.). cat.no. 11
Keith Andrews (Author), The Nazarenes, 1964, 167.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Oct 1962, Oct 1962.
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Editor), Pre-Raphaelite art: paintings, drawings, engravings, sculpture, tapestries, chintzes, wallpapers, 1962, (illus.). cat.no. 3
Author Unknown (Author), The Adelaide Festival of Arts 1962: Special exhibitions at the National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1962. not paginated, cat. no. 3
'The Art Gallery of New South Wales' by Daniel Thomas, pg. 10-15., Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Jan 1960, Jan 1960, 13.
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 1954, 1954.
Author Unknown (Author), Adventures in Art, Sydney, circa 1945, 4.
Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery (England) (Author), Catalogue of Drawings, 1939.
National Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874) (Author), New South Wales Art Gallery Pictures, Sydney, 1931, (colour illus.). plate no. 11
Percy Bate (Author), The English Pre-Raphaelite painters, London, 1901, (illus.).
William Michael Rossetti (England, b.1829, d.1919) (Author), Pre-Raphaelite Diaries and Letters, 1900.
F.G. Stephens (Author), Rossetti, 1894.
- Exhibition history (9)
-
Royal Academy of Arts, 1851, Royal Academy of Arts, 1851–1851.
Paris Exposition Universelle, 1855, Exhibition Venue Unknown, 15 May 1855–15 Nov 1855.
Liverpool Academy, 1858, Liverpool Academy, 1858–1858.
The exhibition of work and other paintings by Ford Madox Brown, Piccadilly Gallery, 1865–1865.
The Pre-Raphaelites and their Circle: Adelaide Festival of Arts 1962, National Gallery of South Australia, Mar 1962–Mar 1962.
Pre-Raphaelite art: paintings, drawings, engravings, sculpture, tapestries, chintzes, wallpapers, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 03 Oct 1962–28 Oct 1962.
Ford Madox Brown 1821-1893, Manchester City Art Gallery, 05 Dec 1964–02 Jan 1965.
Ford Madox Brown 1821-1893, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, 09 Jan 1965–31 Jan 1965.
Love and Death: art in the age of Queen Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 16 Mar 2002–12 May 2002.
