Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
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Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-melhuish-strudwick-536" aria-label="More by John Melhuish Strudwick" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John Melhuish Strudwick</a>
A Golden Thread
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1885
abstract concepts
adults
angel
architecture
cave
chariot
classical myths: gods and heroes
destiny
door
Fates
features
house
industrial and crafts
landscape
magic and occultism
people
religion and belief
residential
society
spinning
symbols and personifications
time - bell
tower
transport: land
tree
universal religious imagery
woman
work and occupations
<p>This picture was first exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1885 and it was accompanied by the lines: 'Right true it is that these/And all things else that under Heaven dwell/ Are changed of Time'. The theme of Time is dealt with in two related parts. Below, the three Fates are spinning the thread of life. Their spindles show part gold and part grey threads. The gold part will measure out the allotted span of a person's life. Above, a girl and her lover are talking. It is their happiness that is being determined by the Fates: a bell is tolling in a tower, symbolising the passing of time, and Love's car is waiting in the sky. Strudwick was a pupil of Burne-Jones, whose influence it felt clearly in this picture.</p><p><em>Gallery label, April 1997</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
12 July 2003 – 15 August 2004
2004-08-15
12 July 2003 – 28 September 2003
2003-09-28
2003-07-12
Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth, Australia)
25 October 2003 – 15 February 2004
2004-02-15
2003-10-25
Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Dunedin, New Zealand)
http://www.dunedin.art.museum
14 May 2004 – 15 August 2004
2004-08-15
2004-05-14
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2003-07-12
The Pre-Raphaelite Dream: Paintings and Drawings from the Tate Collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
1 May 2022 – 12 February 2023
2023-02-12
1 May 2022 – 30 September 2022
2022-09-30
2022-05-01
Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum (Leamington Spa, UK)
4 October 2022 – 12 February 2023
2023-02-12
2022-10-04
Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village (Compton, UK)
http://www.wattsgallery.org.uk
2022-05-01
Modern Pre-Raphaelites Visionaries
Loan-out
27 March 2024 – 22 July 2024
2024-07-22
27 March 2024 – 22 July 2024
2024-07-22
2024-03-27
Musée du Louvre-Lens (Lens, France)
2024-03-27
Subterranean Worlds
Loan-out
A Golden Thread
support: 724 × 425 mm
frame: 1057 × 760 × 104 mm
Presented by the Trustees of the <a href="/search?gid=999999977" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Chantrey Bequest</a> 1885
<p>This picture was first exhibited at the Grosvenor  Gallery in 1885 and it was accompanied by the  lines: 'Right true it is that these/<br/>And all things else that under Heaven dwell/ Are  changed of Time'. The theme of Time is dealt with  in two related parts. Below, the three Fates are  spinning the thread of life. Their spindles show  part gold and part grey threads. The gold part  will measure out the allotted span of a person's  life. Above, a girl and her lover are talking. It  is their happiness that is being determined by the  Fates: a bell is tolling in a tower, symbolising  the passing of time, and Love's car is waiting in  the sky. Strudwick was a pupil of Burne-Jones,  whose influence it felt clearly in this picture.</p>
Display caption
1997-04-11T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstract concepts adults angel architecture cave chariot classical myths: gods and heroes destiny door Fates features house industrial and crafts landscape magic and occultism people religion and belief residential society spinning symbols and personifications time - bell tower transport: land tree universal religious imagery woman work and occupations