Painting of the Week -New Stock - Jessie MacGregor
In the Childhood of Dante - From this time forward love ruled my heart
This stunning Pre-Raphaelite oil painting depicts Beatrice kneeling on the grass, holding flowers and gazing up at Dante as he stands beside her, hands over her head, perhaps miming crowning her. Other children and their maids dance around them. Beyond them is a Florentine garden with beautiful arches and some figures to the right. To the left one can glimpse the landscape under a summer's sky. MacGregor has portrayed superb detail in the figures expressions and clothing with rich red and gold tones and the vivid blue sky echoing in the little boy's tunic. The brushwork is fantastic. MacGregor painted some fantastic paintings in her time, many of which were exhibited and now hang in art galleries. This painting is a superb example of her work, with excellent provenance and would grace any wall.
Signed twice 'Jessie Macgregor/1892' lower right.
Provenance Anon. sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, 11 December 1972, lot 195.
Exhibited London, Royal Academy, 1892, no. 905 entitled In the Childhood of Dante. From this time forward love ruled my heart.
Literature Royal Academy Illustrated, 1892, p. 78.
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