The Long Engagement
Encyclopedia
The Long Engagement is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes
which was created between 1854 and 1859. The painting was originally titled "Orlando".
The painting depicts a curate
and his fiancée in a woodland setting.
The title refers to middle class social conventions of the time, in particular the fact that the parents of a girl engaged to a poorly paid curate would typically not allow the marriage until he had secured a more remunerative position - i.e. within the church hierarchy. The girl is depicted looking at her own name (Amy) carved, some while ago, into the trunk of the tree by her fiancé as an expression of his love. The carving, however, is about to be covered by rambling ivy
- growing up the trunk; etheral youthful passion is becoming lost to lassiez-faire worldly capitalist demands. It can be said that this symbolism reflects the stark realities of late 1850s and 1860s Victorian England, which certainly is the observation made by English historian A. N. Wilson. In his book The Victorians (London: Arrow Books, 2003), Wilson makes the following observation and analysis of the significance of The Long Engagement:
It depicts an emotional predicament stemming directly from an economic situation. The prosperity which had created the vast bourgeoisie with its gradations from lower to upper middle class had also created a code. You could not marry, and maintain the position in society to which you aspired, until you had a certain amount of money in the bank. (p.260)
Hughes had finished an earlier painting, April Love
, of a similar theme. The Long Engagement was given to the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
in the will of a "Dr Griffiths" in 1902, and has remained in the collection to present day.
Arthur Hughes (artist)
Arthur Hughes , was an English painter and illustrator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He is the uncle of the English painter Edward Robert Hughes.-Biography:Hughes was born in London...
which was created between 1854 and 1859. The painting was originally titled "Orlando".
The painting depicts a curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
and his fiancée in a woodland setting.
The title refers to middle class social conventions of the time, in particular the fact that the parents of a girl engaged to a poorly paid curate would typically not allow the marriage until he had secured a more remunerative position - i.e. within the church hierarchy. The girl is depicted looking at her own name (Amy) carved, some while ago, into the trunk of the tree by her fiancé as an expression of his love. The carving, however, is about to be covered by rambling ivy
Ivy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
- growing up the trunk; etheral youthful passion is becoming lost to lassiez-faire worldly capitalist demands. It can be said that this symbolism reflects the stark realities of late 1850s and 1860s Victorian England, which certainly is the observation made by English historian A. N. Wilson. In his book The Victorians (London: Arrow Books, 2003), Wilson makes the following observation and analysis of the significance of The Long Engagement:
It depicts an emotional predicament stemming directly from an economic situation. The prosperity which had created the vast bourgeoisie with its gradations from lower to upper middle class had also created a code. You could not marry, and maintain the position in society to which you aspired, until you had a certain amount of money in the bank. (p.260)
Hughes had finished an earlier painting, April Love
April Love (Hughes painting)
April Love is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes which was created between 1855 and 1856. It was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1856....
, of a similar theme. The Long Engagement was given to the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
in the will of a "Dr Griffiths" in 1902, and has remained in the collection to present day.