Charles Allston Collins: St. Elizabeth 0f Hungary, 1852

The Devout Childhood of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1852

courtesy of Detroit Institute of Arts

Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873) was the son of landscape and genre painter William Collins, his older brother was the novelist Wilkie Collins. After meeting John Everett Millais, Collins became influenced by the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites. Although never a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Collins adhered to their stated mission of selecting subjects that conveyed “heartfelt” ideas rendered through the close study of nature.

In this painting, he portrays the exemplary piety of Elizabeth of Hungary, who, when arriving at the church before the priests had opened the door, fell to her knees at the threshold to begin her devotions. While the story of the thirteenth-century saint derives from Alban Butler’s The Lives of the Saints (1756-59), the visual details - from the wooden door’s grain to the shot silk dress - reflect Collins’s accurate observations of his visual world. He also adopted the arduous Pre-Raphaelite practice of painting on a white wet ground to heighten his brilliant colours. Collins’s career was brief; his failure to attract clients prompted him to turn to writing, but he was overshadowed by the success of his novelist brother Wilkie Collins.

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HC-1403: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)