Arthur Hughes: En Pénitence, 1880

Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1847, obtaining a silver medal two years later. In that same year he exhibited his first finished painting, Musidora, at the Royal Academy. In 1850 he first discovered the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and went on to adopt their techniques and subject matter. He was particularly inspired by the works of Millais and Rossetti. His two best known works are probably The Eve of St Agnes and April Love.

Throughout the 1850s and 1860s he continued to paint minutely detailed and highly coloured lyrical and romantic subjects. From 1865 onwards he worked mainly as an illustrator of children's books, producing some fine illustrations for a series of fairy tales by George Macdonald, drawings for Tennyson's Enoch Arden, and for Christina Rossetti's Poems for Children.

In this painting, the scene is set in a school room, where children are grouped around the teacher’s desk. A spring garden, in full bloom, glimpsed through the window beyond, emphasises their youth and promise. The youngest child has transgressed, and has been seated to dry her tears. There was considerable interest in all things Dutch in artistic circles in the 1880s. Clausen, amongst others, painted many Dutch children. In this picture the children are wearing clogs.

the above text appears on the back of the card
HC-1523: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)