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Description: | Victorian painters often used symbolism to convey certain themes and moral issues. In this painting Keeling has hidden some clues that help us to de-code the picture. The young girl in the picture is involved in a clandestine romance. She directs her gaze knowingly at the viewer, inviting us to share her secret, while an elderly woman dozes in the background. In her hand she clutches an arrow bearing a message from her lover. In Victorian Britain close contact between men and women outside marriage was frowned upon and there are warnings here about the possible consequences of the girl's behaviour. The colour red dominates the picture, in the ribbons of the girl's hair and the striking flowers in the foreground. Red was often used by artists to symbolise passion and lust as well as danger. The lute that she has been studiously practising lies abandoned on the floor. Everything in the picture, from the spiky flowers to the pointed arrow, warns us that a woman's innocence is fragile and can be easily pierced.
Oil painting showing a young woman, standing. In her hands she holds an arrow with a message attached. A lute lies on the floor beside her. An elderly woman sleeps in the background. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Rights holder: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Subjects: | Love stories Fine arts Women Oil painting Instruments (musical) Architecture Arrows Young women Portraits Chairs Lutes Houses Flowers Love and Marriage Portrait painting Romance Letters (documents) Oil Paintings Beauty Highlights Romances Victorian period Interiors Messages Elderly people Paintings Dresses Love People Art collections | Temporal: | 1856
Victorian (1837-1901) | Source: | Black Country History | Creator: | KEELING; William Knight (1807 - 1886) | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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