Tempera on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-thomas-monnington-1653" aria-label="More by Sir Thomas Monnington" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Thomas Monnington</a>
Allegory
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1939
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
Adam
adults
arm / arms raised
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
Bible: Old Testament
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
couple
embracing
Eve
female
Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
hill
Italy
Knights, Winifred
landscape
male
man
Monnington, Thomas, Sir
mythical, religious, fictional
named individuals
nudes
people
Piediluco
places
portraits
recoiling
religion and belief
river
self-portraits
sex and relationships
society
standing
tree
water: inland
woman
work and occupations
<p>Monnington studied at the Slade School of Art from 1918-22. He then spent the years 1922-5 as a Scholar in Decorative Painting at the British School at Rome, where this painting was begun. The landscape is taken from studies made around the Umbrian town of Piediluco; the imagery was partly inspired by general ideas about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but also more particularly by Monnington's love of Italy and delight in his marriage in 1924 to Winifred Knights, a fellow painter at the British School. The Adam and Eve-like figures are based on Monnington and Knights. Two paintings by Knights are also on display in this gallery.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting tempera canvas
Allegory
support: 1257 × 2768 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1939
<p>Monnington studied at the Slade School of Art from 1918-22. He then spent the years 1922-5 as a Scholar in Decorative <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>Painting</span></a> at the British School at Rome, where this painting was begun. 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/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> is taken from studies made around the Umbrian town of Piediluco; the imagery was partly inspired by general ideas about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but also more particularly by Monnington's love of Italy and delight in his marriage in 1924 to Winifred Knights, a fellow painter at the British School. The Adam and Eve-like figures are based on Monnington and Knights. Two paintings by Knights are also on display in this gallery.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05036</b> ALLEGORY <i>c.</i> 1924</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not inscribed.
<br/>Tempera on canvas, 109 1/2×49 1/2 (278·5×125·5), plus painted border of about 1 1/2 (3·75) at sides, 1 1/8 (2·75) at top and  7/8 (2·25) below.
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1939.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by the C.A.S. 1925.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> (?) N.E.A.C., June 1924 (112), as ‘Figures in Landscape’; <i>Autumn Exhibition</i>, Brighton, 1927 (16); <i>Re-opening Exhibition</i>, Liverpool, October–December 1933 (192); Aberdeen Artists' Society, 1935 (296); British Council, <i>Empire Exhibition</i>, Johannesburg, 1936 (558); <i>C.A.S. Exhibition</i>, Bath, March–April 1938 (26).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>C.A.S. Report 1925</i>, 1926, p.5.</p>
<p>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/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>, which is unfinished, was executed at the British School at Rome when the artist was there as a Rome Scholar, 1923–6. 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/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> background was based on sketches made around Piediluco, between Terni and Rieti. The artist wrote of the subject, ‘The idea is a bit complex and was based on the story of the Garden of Eden, but rather a personal interpretation of it’ (letter of 17 May 1953). When pressed to elaborate this he replied: ‘I am no more able to explain its exact meaning now than I was at the time when I painted it. The whole design certainly had a very particular meaning and purpose and was an attempt to express in pictorial form my attitude to life - almost my faith’ (letter of 8 July 1957).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions Adam adults arm / arms raised artist, painter arts and entertainment Bible: Old Testament cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents couple embracing Eve female Garden of Eden Garden of Eden hill Italy Knights, Winifred landscape male man Monnington, Thomas, Sir mythical, religious, fictional named individuals nudes people Piediluco places portraits recoiling religion and belief river self-portraits sex and relationships society standing tree water: inland woman work and occupations