Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/augustus-leopold-egg-169" aria-label="More by Augustus Leopold Egg" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Augustus Leopold Egg</a>
Past and Present 1
Presented by Sir Alec and Lady Martin in memory of their daughter Nora 1918
actions: postures and motions
adultery - Balzac novel
adults
anger
Bible: Old Testament
book, Balzac
broken home - house of cards
carpet
children
collapse
diseases and conditions
domestic
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
family
family
fine art and design, named works
Frith
furnishings
Genesis, chapter 3
girl
guilt
infidelity
interiors
leisure and pastimes
letter
living room
lying down
man
mirror
morality
named individuals
objects
people
playing
playing card
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
religion and belief
sex and relationships
sitting
social comment
society
society
sports and games
Stanfield, Clarkson, painting, ‘Abandoned’
symbols and personifications
table
woman
<p>This painting forms part of a series of three which considers the consequences of love outside marriage In Victorian Britain. <span>Past and Present No.1</span> and <span>Past and Present No. 3</span> show ‘Present’ five years later, two weeks after the husband has died of despair. Identical moons indicate that they take place at the same moment. The two girls comfort each other. The homeless mother shelters under the Adelphi arches, by the River Thames in London, holding the baby that resulted from her affair. The posters for two plays, ‘Victims’ and ‘A Cure for Love’, and ‘Pleasure Excursions to Paris’, are ironic comments on her situation.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 August 2001 – 25 July 2005
2005-07-25
29 August 2001
2001-08-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-29
Art and Victorian Society
Collection based display
16 September 2003 – 18 July 2004
2004-07-18
15 March 2004 – 18 July 2004
2004-07-18
2004-03-15
Museum of the Home (London, UK)
http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk
2003-09-16
Homes and Gardens
Loan-out
1 August 2005 – 2 March 2008
2008-03-02
1 August 2007
2007-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
Victorian Paintings of Modern Life
Collection based display
2 December 2010 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
2 December 2010 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
2010-12-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-12-02
Gallery 9
Collection based display
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
7 August 2014 – 24 July 2022
2022-07-24
7 August 2014
2014-08-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-08-07
Gallery 9
Collection based display
Past and Present, No. 1
support: 635 × 762 mm
frame: 801 × 925 × 85 mm
Presented by Sir Alec and Lady Martin in memory of their daughter Nora 1918
<p>This is the first of a set of three modern-life pictures on the theme of the fallen woman. The other two (N032279 and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/egg-past-and-present-no-3-n03280" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03280</span></a>) are also in the Tate collection. They are typical of the social moralist pictures that were popular in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/v/victorian" title="Glossary definition for 'Victorian'"><span>Victorian</span></a> art.   

</p><p>The theme of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/triptych" title="Glossary definition for 'Triptych'"><span>triptych</span></a> is the discovery of the woman's infidelity and its consequences.  In this first scene the wife lies prostrate at her husband's feet, while he sits grimly at the table and their children (the older girl modelled by William Frith's daughter) play cards in the background.  The husband is holding a letter, evidence of his wife's adultery, and simultaneously crushes a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/miniature" title="Glossary definition for 'Miniature'"><span>miniature</span></a> of her lover under his foot.  The setting is an ordinary middle-class drawing room, but closer observation reveals that the room is full of symbols. Egg was clearly influenced in his approach by Holman Hunt's <i>The</i> <i>Awakening Conscience</i> of 1853 (Manchester City Art Galleries). The house of cards is collapsing, signifying the breakdown of the couple's marriage. The cards are supported by a novel by Balzac - a specialist in the theme of adultery. An apple has been cut in two, the one half (representing the wife) has fallen to the floor, the other (representing the husband) has been stabbed to the core. As a parallel, the two pictures on the wall depict the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (labelled <i>The Fall</i>); and a shipwreck by Clarkson Stanfield (labelled <i>Abandoned</i>). The couple's individual <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a> hang beneath the appropriate image. 

</p><p>In the background of the picture the mirror reflects an open door, denoting the woman's impending departure from the home. The position of her arms and the bracelets round her wrists give the impression that she is shackled.  In Victorian England a man could safely take a mistress without fear of recrimination, but for a woman to be unfaithful was an unforgivable crime.  As Caroline Norton, an early feminist, wrote, 'the faults of women are visited as sins, the sins of men are not even visited as faults' (quote in Lambourne, p.374).

</p><p>The set of pictures was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1858 with no title, but with the subtitle, 'August the 4<sup>th</sup> - Have just heard that B - has been dead more than a fortnight, so his poor children have now lost both parents.  I hear she was seen on Friday last near the Strand, evidently without a place to lay her head.  What a fall hers has been!'

</p><p><b>Further reading:</b><br/>Lionel Lambourne, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.374-5, reproduced p.376, in colour.<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.52-3, reproduced p.52, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000

</p><p></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div><p><span>This series of three paintings (</span><i>Past and Present, No. 1,</i><span> 1858; </span><i>Past and Present, No. 2</i><span>, 1858; </span><i>Past and Present, No. 3</i><span>, 1858) considers the consequences of love outside marriage In Victorian Britain. The central scene, ‘Past’ shows a wife begging forgiveness from her husband while their children look on. He holds a letter which reveals an affair and stamps on a portrait miniature of her lover. The room is full of symbols of the family’s downfall, such as the apple cut in two. The paintings either side show ‘Present’ five years later, two weeks after the husband has died of despair. Identical moons indicate that they take place at the same moment. The two girls comfort each other. The homeless mother shelters under the Adelphi arches, by the River Thames in London, holding the baby that resulted from her affair. The posters for two plays, ‘Victims’ and ‘A Cure for Love’, and ‘Pleasure Excursions to Paris’, are ironic comments on her situation.</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adultery - Balzac novel adults anger Bible: Old Testament book, Balzac broken home - house of cards carpet children collapse diseases and conditions domestic emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas family family fine art and design, named works Frith furnishings Genesis, chapter 3 girl guilt infidelity interiors leisure and pastimes letter living room lying down man mirror morality named individuals objects people playing playing card reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities religion and belief sex and relationships sitting social comment society society sports and games Stanfield, Clarkson, painting, ‘Abandoned’ symbols and personifications table woman