ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

These three studies are the earliest works by Brown in the collection. They were made
g Parisina’s Sleep (now lost) in 1842 when Brown was living in Paris. 162
for the paintin
The picture was based on a poem of the
same name by Byron which tells the tale of
Prince Azo who executed his wife, Parisina, after discovering
her adulterous affair with
his illegitimate son, Hugo. The scene Brown chose to depict
is the one in which Prince
Azo
first hears Parisina talk of Hugo in her sleep. In his rage he contemplates murdering
her. The painting was rejected
from the Paris Salon in 1843 but it was exhibited at the
British Institution in 1845 where it received some admiration. In February that year
Brown wrote to his first
wife Elisabeth describing the painting's success:
I went to the British Institution yesterday, as it was varnishing-day … . They
have not hung my
sketch [of The Ascension], but Parisina looks very well, as
it has got a good light. … I saw Mr. and Mrs. MacIan, a Scotch artist and his
wife, whom
I met at Mr. Etty's. He was in perfect rapture with Parisina; said
the price I asked was perfectly preposterous, fifty guineas. He said it was
worth six times as much. 163
By
18 May he was able to reassure her that:
Our prospects
seem brighter than ever. It may be a kind of excitement, but I
feel sure that in a few years I shall be known, and begin to be valued, and in
the meantime I shall be increasing in reputation
daily. The artists seem to be
pleased with the picture now exhibited [Parisina], as I hear from divers
models; and this (as it was never painted to suit public taste) is as much
as I
can wish: all the artists seem to notice it. 164
The first study is of Azo bending over
Parisina and gives a good idea of the composition
Brown must have used in the painting. However,
he may still have been experimenting
with
poses at this point because on the right is a pencil sketch for a woman lying on her
back but with her head raised and looking over her right shoulder. The second study is
for the head of Prince Azo and reveals Brown’s interest in the emotional drama of the
scene. In this study he focused on capturing the intensity of his rage. The third study is
for the head of Parisina. Touches of white chalk give a glimpse of Brown's use of a
strong contrast of light and dark to add dramatic lighting to the painting.
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162
The painting once belonged to Brown’s patron Henry Boddington but is now untraced (Op. cit. at note 3,
p. 433.
163
W. M. Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelite Diaries and Letters, London, 1900, p. 53.
164
Ibid., p. 56
266