"Unprofessional Beauty" by Valentine Prinsep (original) (raw)

Unprofessional Beauty

Valentine Cameron Prinsep (1838-1904)

c.1880

Oil on canvas

H 91.4 x W 70.5 cm.

Southwark Art Collection, London, accession no. GA0195.

Exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880, the same year in which Prinsep showed The Imperial Assemblage at Deihi at the Royal Academy (gallery label at Leighton House). See below for more commentary and two details from the painting [click on all the images to enlarge them, and mouse over the text for links].

Left: Floral decoration at the sitter's neck. Right: Spaniel curled up on the sitter's lap.

When the exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery was reviewed in the Spectator, the reviewer said that "here Mr. Prinsep is seen at his best, — a fresh, red-and-white face, clearly and brightly painted, in the most fashionable of hats, &c." But the reviewer rather disapproved of the dog, on grounds of colour: "The spaniel in the lady's lap rather worries the work, as far as colour goes, and would be better painted out" (752). Not a dog lover, perhaps!

Photographed by Jacqueline Banerjee at the re-opening of Leighton House in October 2022, in their display of "Artists and Neighbours: the Holland Park Circle" (running until 19 February 2023).You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Bibliography

"Art: The Grosvenor Gallery." The Spectator.Vol. 53 (1880). 12 June 1880. 751-53.Google Books. Free Ebook.

Leighton House gallery label.

Unprofessional Beauty. ArtUK (note: this gives the date as 1885, which is clearly wrong, in view of the date of the Spectator review). Web. 4 December 2022.

Created 4 December 2022