Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Henry Tate Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/stanhope-alexander-forbes-190" aria-label="More by Stanhope Alexander Forbes" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Stanhope Alexander Forbes</a>
Health Bride
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894
adults
architecture
bouquet
boy
cake
children
dress: ceremonial/royal
eating and drinking
features
food and drink
girl
group
groups
interiors
leisure and pastimes
man
marriage
military
objects
people
places of entertainment
plants and flowers
restaurant
sailor
sex and relationships
society
toasting
trading and commercial
waiter / waitress
wedding breakfast
wedding dress
window
woman
work and occupations
<p>Several generations of one family are shown celebrating the wedding of a young sailor and his wife. Forbes set the scene in a local inn, and used non-professional models. Forbes was the leader of a group of painters who settled in the Cornish fishing village of Newlyn. They were attracted by the quality of the Cornish light and the survival of a traditional way of life. The painting reflects many of the Newlyn School’s aims. It was sold to Henry Tate, and with the profit Forbes was able to marry the artist Elizabeth Armstrong.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2016</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
11 December 2006 – 2 December 2007
2007-12-02
1 December 2006 – 2 December 2007
2007-12-02
2006-12-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
2008-03-15
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2006-12-11
James Clarke Hook and Painters of the Sea
Collection based display
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
15 March 2008 – 7 June 2008
2008-06-07
2008-03-15
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2008-03-15
Sea and Coasts
Loan-out
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
21 March 2020 – 15 April 2021
2021-04-15
21 March 2020 – 15 April 2021
2021-04-15
2020-03-21
Penlee House Gallery & Museum (Penzance, UK)
2020-03-21
Newlyn School Interiors
Loan-out
The Health of the Bride
support: 1524 × 2000 mm
frame: 2005 × 2465 × 155 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999962" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Sir Henry Tate</a> 1894
<p>On 16 July 1889 Stanhope Alexander Forbes wrote to Sir<b> </b>Henry Tate (1819-1899) 'I myself will be rather occupied down here - no less a matter than my own wedding. It was inevitable after <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> this picture' (quoted in Cook and Hardie, p.84). Forbes was writing from <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/newlyn-school" title="Glossary definition for 'Newlyn School'"><span>Newlyn</span></a> where he had been staying since 1884. The small Cornish fishing village attracted a number of artists in the late nineteenth century including Thomas Cooper Gotch (1854-1931), Frank Bramley (1857-1915) and Walter Langley (1852-1922). Opposed to the insularity of British painting, these artists were encouraged to paint en <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/plein-air" title="Glossary definition for 'Plein Air'"><span>plein air</span></a>, taking much of their inspiration from the work of French naturalist painters such as Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884) and Jules Breton (1827-1906), and often choosing 'working life' subjects.

</p><p>Forbes recalled that the idea for the painting came to him when 'Standing in one of these inn parlours I had first thought of a painting of an anglers' meeting - you will notice one or two cases of fish on the wall - but it occurred to me that a wedding party could be much more picturesequely grouped, even though one had to paint them in the smarter, more conventional Sunday clothes' (quoted in Fox, p.28). Forbes depicts generations of the same family seated around a table at the wedding breakfast. A sailor raises a toast to the bride who stares pensively into her bouquet, her eyes not meeting the gazes of her admiring onlookers. 

</p><p><i>The Health of the Bride </i>reflects many of the aims of the Newlyn artists at the time. Forbes has chosen to use non-professional models and a recognisable site, the local inn in Newlyn. In addition, he includes evidence of the local fishing industry, for example the stuffed fish, <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/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> of a painting of a ship and the masts of ships seen through the window. This painting can be included amongst a number of works by Forbes, including <i>Off the Fishing Grounds </i>(1886) and <i>Old Newlyn </i>(1884), which reveal an unchanging view of life in Newlyn at a time when rural activities and traditional ways of life were gradually disappearing. Forbes had a monopoly on such subjects in the eyes 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/v/victorian" title="Glossary definition for 'Victorian'"><span>Victorian</span></a> public, his paintings being characterised by their subdued palette and square brushwork.

</p><p><i>The Health of the Bride </i>received an enthusiastic response at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1899. The critic of the <i>Art Journal </i>remarked in 1893 that the 'solemn awkwardness of the young couple themselves, the knowledgeable indifference of the old, and the innocent unconcern of the very young - all these are managed with frankness and skill' (quoted in Cook, p.168). The painting was bought for the large sum of £600 by Sir Henry Tate and was to become part of the collection which he gave to the nation at the foundation of the Tate Gallery. The profits from the sale of the painting enabled Forbes to propose to the artist Elizabeth Armstrong (1859-1912) who had moved to Newlyn in 1885. Their marriage took place in St Peter's Church in Newlyn a few months after <i>The Health of the Bride</i> was completed 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>E. T. Cook, <i>Handbook to the Tate Gallery</i>, London 1898, pp.167-8<br/>Judith Cook and Melissa Hardie, <i>Singing from the Walls: The Life and Art of Elizabeth Forbes, </i>Penzance 2000, p.84<br/>Caroline Fox, <i>Stanhope Forbes and the Newlyn School, </i>Devon 1993,<i> </i>pp.28-9, reproduced in colour, p.2

</p><p>Heather Birchall<br/>May 2002</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Several generations of one family are shown celebrating the wedding of a young sailor and his wife. Forbes set the scene in a local inn, and used non-professional models. Forbes was the leader of a group of painters who settled in the Cornish fishing village of Newlyn. They were attracted by the quality of the Cornish light and the survival of a traditional way of life. The painting reflects many of the Newlyn School’s aims. It was sold to Henry Tate, and with the profit Forbes was able to marry the artist Elizabeth Armstrong.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-11-15T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01544</b> THE HEALTH OF THE BRIDE 1889
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Stanhope A. Forbes. 1889.’. b.l.
<br/>Canvas, 60×78 3/4 (152×202); patched in two places b.r.
<br/>Tate Gift 1894.
<br/><i>Coll:</i>
Purchased by Henry Tate at the R.A. 1889.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1889 (655).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Anon., ‘The Royal Academy’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1889, p.219; Walter Armstrong, ‘The Henry Tate Collection. V’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1893, pp.298–9, repr. p.299; Frederick Dolman, ‘Illustrated Interviews’ in <i>The Strand Magazine</i>, LXXVI, 1901, p.487, repr.; Mrs Lionel Birch, <i>Stanhope A. Forbes, A.R.A. and Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, A.R.W.S.</i>, 1906, pp.37–8, repr. facing p.38; C. Lewis Hind, ‘Stanhope A. Forbes, R.A.’ in <i>The Art Annual</i>, 1911, p.17.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Tate Gallery Illustrations</i>, 1928, pl.72; Hesketh Hubbard, <i>A Hundred Years of British Painting</i> 1851–1951, 1951, pl.52.</p>
<p>In a letter to Henry Tate from <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/newlyn-school" title="Glossary definition for 'Newlyn School'"><span>Newlyn</span></a> dated 16 July 1889 the artist wrote: ‘I myself will be rather occupied down here - no less a matter than my own wedding. It was inevitable after <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> this picture.’ He had been engaged to Elizabeth Armstrong for several years and married her in August. The picture was painted from the artist's friends at his studio in Newlyn, not from professional models, and the setting is the local inn.</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, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture bouquet boy cake children dress: ceremonial/royal eating and drinking features food and drink girl group groups interiors leisure and pastimes man marriage military objects people places of entertainment plants and flowers restaurant sailor sex and relationships society toasting trading and commercial waiter / waitress wedding breakfast wedding dress window woman work and occupations