Victorian Art Nouveau Painting on Fabric

I’ve seen I don’t know HOW many ordinary Victorian paintings on fabric: They are usually quite homespun with plain, rather boring, naive depictions of flowers, animals, etc. This one is about home, but it’s anything but homespun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vernacular painting like this done in art nouveau style before. It’s both poignant and cleverly conceived: The artist depicts herself asleep, the whiplash curves of her hair blending into the ripples of the water that separates her from home. One of the things I enjoy in my spare time is reader-submitted poetry to Victorian magazines: That is, poems by ordinary women. SO many of them are about childhood nostalgia and a longing for home. Marriage was a social contract and financial necessity for most women, and these marriages very often took women far from their families and friends. Today, it’s easy to just hop on a plane or get on Facetime, but uncomfortable distances isolated many Victorian women, and this was a sad burden for them to carry even if their marriages were happy. These are the sorts of pieces I love most: Not only is it beautiful and unique, but it tells us a lot about the emotional world of the woman who made it and offers a chance to connect with her across time.

The painting looks to have been done on felt and it’s in excellent condition save for a small area at the center bottom. The frame looks to be original- it’s a really fine, gilded gesso Victorian frame. The backing and hanging wire replaced more recently. Overall the piece measures about 26” x 24” and weighs about 10 pounds.