Ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-smetham-502" aria-label="More by James Smetham" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Smetham</a>
Eve St Agnes
Bequeathed by W.C. Alexander 1917
actions: expressive
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: actions
animals: mammals
architecture
couple
dog - non-specific
domestic
elopement
features
fleeing
hallway
interiors
Keats, John, ‘The Eve of St Agnes’
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
people
sex and relationships
sleeping
sleeping
society
stair / step
woman
<p>From early on in his career Smetham was an admirer of Blake and his work. Smetham's deep sympathy for the artist revealed itself in a long and perceptive article about Blake which he published in 1869. In the eyes of his friend D.G Rossetti, the intensity of Smetham's vision and his highly individual inventiveness was akin to Blake's. This drawing illustrates a passage from John Keats's poem 'The Eve of St Agnes' which was published in 1820. Madeline, with her lover Porphyro, is fleeing by night from that 'mansion foul' which is her home. This is probably a sketch for a picture which Smetham exhibited in Liverpool in 1859.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink watercolour
The Eve of St Agnes
support: 83 × 102 mm
Bequeathed by W.C. Alexander 1917
<p>From early on in his career Smetham was an admirer of Blake and his work. Smetham's deep sympathy for the artist revealed itself in a long and perceptive article about Blake which he published in 1869. In the eyes of his friend D.G Rossetti, the intensity of Smetham's vision and his highly individual inventiveness was akin to Blake's. This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> illustrates a passage from John Keats's poem 'The Eve of St Agnes' which was published in 1820. Madeline, with her lover Porphyro, is fleeing by night from that 'mansion foul' which is her home. This is probably a sketch for a picture which Smetham exhibited in Liverpool in 1859.</p>
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2004-09-02T00:00:00
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actions: expressive actions: processes and functions adults animals: actions animals: mammals architecture couple dog - non-specific domestic elopement features fleeing hallway interiors Keats, John, ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man people sex and relationships sleeping sleeping society stair / step woman