ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

the facts known respecting him perfectly admitted of the idea I had
already conceived of the subject to wit, Chaucer reading his poëms to
Edward the 3 rd & his court bringing in other noted characters such as the
black prince etc. 101
Historical notes written by Brown in the BMAG collection reveal how carefully he
researched historical dates to check that the events he wanted to depict were
historically accurate (cat. no. 1). The notes are on a single sketchbook page and
written in brown ink over pencil sketches of Alfred the Great. They concern the
figures in both Chaucer and Wycliffe and were almost certainly written on one of
Brown's trips to the English Academy in Rome. 102 It must have been after making
these notes that Brown was able to confirm that 'the facts known respecting
[Chaucer] perfectly admitted of the idea I had already conceived.' 103
Brown also used the British Museum as a resource for Wycliffe. On 30 November
1847 he wrote in his diary:
went out to see about the [British] Museum for consulting authorities …
went to the reading room of Museum, saw Levis’s life of Wycliff,
101 Op. cit. at note 66, pp. 1-2. Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) wrote the first part (55 BC-1572
AD) of the history of England for the Cabinet Cyclopedia series, 1830. The whole history was later
published in ten volumes as The History of England, by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green and J.
Taylor, London, between 1830 and 1840. Richmond likens this vision to a religious experience but it is
surely more likely that Brown saw it as a moment of artistic genius (Op. cit. at note 8, p. 368).
102 The English Academy is likely to have been 'The English Life Academy, which was supported by a
private bequest,' briefly mentioned in James Dafforne's Life and Works of Edward Matthew Ward
(London, 1879, p. 7). Ward lived in Rome from 1837 to 1839 and attended the academy during his
stay.
103 Op. cit. at note 66, p. 2.
110