ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Westminster Abbey. On 16 th October 1847 Brown wrote in his diary that he had been
'to the abby [sic] to see some of the old effigies.’ 113 This must have included the
effigy of Edward III whose portrait in Chaucer is a faithful likeness. For the figure of
Gower in Wycliffe Brown visited his effigy in Southwark Cathedral (Fig. 86). He
recalled his excursion in his 1865 exhibition catalogue when he noted in his entry on
Wycliffe that 'Gower's effigy is to be seen, or was, on his monument in St. Saviour's
Southwark.' 114 When he lived in London Brown was able to visit the effigies but
whilst living in Rome he may have used Charles Alfred Stothard’s The Monumental
Effigies of Great Britain (1817) as a resource. It included beautiful colour
illustrations of the effigies of both the Black Prince and Edward III and it is likely he
used this book for the armour worn by John of Gaunt in Chaucer which he based on
the effigy of Edward the Black Prince (Fig. 87). 115 A sheet of sketches done in Rome
(cat. no. 19) contains a drawing for Edward III of an elderly model dressed in robes
most likely based on an illustration from Stothard (Fig. 88). 116 It also appears to have
been the source for the costume of the woman sitting on a stool by the fountain in
Chaucer. Her dress appears to be based on the one found on the tomb of Blanche de
la Tour and illustrated in Stothard (Figs. 89 and 90). 117
113 Op. cit. at note 66, p. 10.
114 Op. cit. at note 37, p. 5. St. Saviour's is now Southwark Cathedral.
115 Charles Stothard, Monumental Effigies of Great Britain, London, 1817, pls. 85 and 86. Roy Strong
mistakenly indentifies the figure in armour as the Black Prince. Although Brown used the Black
Prince's effigy as his source, it is his brother John of Gaunt who wears the suit of armour. The Black
Prince sits with his wife on the other side of his father Edward III (Op. cit. at note 1, p. 58).
116 Op. cit. at note 115, pls. 83 and 84.
117 Ibid., pls. 79 and 81. Surtees suggests that the illustration of the tomb of William of Windsor and
Blanche de la Tour in Knight's Pictorial History of England (p. 870) was the source but Stothard seems
the more likely as his illustrations are more detailed (Op. cit. at note 66, p. 12).
114