Richard Redgrave the Sylvan Spring

Oil on canvas, signed and dated '1855'; inscribed verso

Image size: 32 ½ x 26 ¼ inches (82.5 x 67 cm)

Ornate gilt frame

Inscription verso:

The Sylvan Spring

Deep and still, that gliding stream

Beautiful to thee must seem

As the river of a dream

Richard Redgrave

10 Hyde Park Gate South Kensington

Provenance:

Sotheby's, British & Irish Art, 2014

Sotheby's, 1981

Exhibited:

Royal Academy, London, 1855, no. 88

Literature:

Athenaeum, 1855, no. 1439, p. 623

Art Journal, 1855, p. 171

The subject matter of this work is taken from the 1842 poem Maidenhood, by the internationally renowned American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow wrote in the Romantic style that was incredibly popular in England at the time, and so his works were applauded amongst British literary and artistic circles. He was a contemporary of Redgrave, who was undoubtedly inspired by this poem and incorporated its symbolism into this particular artwork.

Longfellow’s poem centres around a young woman about to cross over a babbling brook, symbolising her transition from childhood into adulthood, and urges her to take the qualities associated with maidenhood - innocence, kindness, purity, modesty - into her new life as a mature woman. The poem draws heavily on imagery of the sun, dawn and the stream to represent innocence and transition. It is these thematic notions that Redgrave has used as inspiration for his work. Whilst not directly copying certain symbols from the poem, such as the lily flower and snow, Redgrave’s choice of subject clearly still connotes feminine innocence.

The scene takes place on a sunny day, likely in Spring or Summer, with the sun’s rays flickering down through the branches of the forest. Redgrave has put remarkable effort into representing how the filtered light interacts with the forest floor, creating a dappled effect that contrasts areas of light and shade. The trees are verdant and the grass is green, serving to connote natural vitality that complements the ideas of youthfulness and innocence.

The lady in the foreground is a youthful and lithe figure, with the bonnet on her head a symbol of the modesty and propriety of Victorian social etiquette. This lady is likely Redgrave’s representation of the Maiden archetype in Longfellow’s poem. The sense of innocence is further accentuated by the appearance of sheep in the work, an old Biblical motif for innocence and piety. The sheep and the lady, when seen together, hint at the use of a shepherdess motif that furthers the painting’s themes of innocence - shepherdesses were seen as representations of a traditional uncomplicated existence, free from the burdens of early modern society and the ills associated with the Industrial Revolution.

Besides the symbolic beauty of the work, Redgrave’s attention to detail affirms why he is one of the most influential 19th century British artists. As previously mentioned, the quality and accuracy of the light and its behaviour over the forest floor and the spring is outstanding. The physicality of the sheep and their anatomy is rendered beautifully, with visible texture to their woolly pelts. The forest appears as a sheet of green foliage, with Redgrave painstakingly detailing each leaf in their variety of green shades.

One of the most understated features of the work, however, has to be the spring cascading into the small pool near to the lady - the water falls in a beautiful arc, and is marked by lines of white that demonstrate light playing over its surface and its ever-changing quality.