Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/charles-wellington-furse-1134" aria-label="More by Charles Wellington Furse" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Charles Wellington Furse</a>
Diana Uplands
Purchased 1906
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
clothing and personal items
coat
dame
dog, greyhound
Furse, Katharine, Dame
hat, bonnet
heathland
hill
individuals: female
landscape
leisure and pastimes
named individuals
objects
people
portraits
recreational activities
royalty and social rank
standing
Symonds, Katharine
walking
weather
wind
woman
work and occupations
<p>Furse presents Diana, goddess of the hunt, in a contemporary setting. The model was his wife Katharine, and she carved the elaborate frame. She recalled ‘Charles had the design of the wind-blown figure in his mind... He was very anxious to see the whole effect, so I dressed up and my stepmother-in-law Gertrude was brought in to help the wind’. Katharine Furse was later Director of the Women’s Royal Naval Service. The painting was very popular when it was first exhibited, and was used in many advertisements at the time.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2020</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
19 June 2006 – 4 December 2006
2006-12-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-06-19
The Swagger Portrait
Collection based display
14 December 2012 – 26 September 2022
2022-09-26
10 December 2012 – 25 September 2022
2022-09-25
2012-12-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-12-14
Gallery 4
Collection based display
1 March 2013 – 31 May 2013
2013-05-31
1 March 2013 – 31 May 2013
2013-05-31
2013-03-01
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp
2013-03-01
Edwardian Opulence
Loan-out
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
7 April 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
2014-04-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-04-07
Forgotten Faces
Collection based display
Diana of the Uplands
support: 2369 × 1791 mm
frame: 2910 × 2218 × 195 mm
Purchased 1906
<div class="text">
<p>Furse presents Diana, goddess of the hunt, in a contemporary setting. The model was his wife Katharine, and she carved the elaborate frame. She recalled ‘Charles had the design of the wind-blown figure in his mind... He was very anxious to see the whole effect, so I dressed up and my stepmother-in-law Gertrude was brought in to help the wind’. Katharine Furse was later Director of the Women’s Royal Naval Service. The painting was very popular when it was first exhibited, and was used in many advertisements at the time.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2020-10-13T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N02059</b> DIANA OF THE UPLANDS 1903–4
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 93 1/4×70 1/2 (237×179).
<br/>Purchased from the artist's widow (Clarke Fund) 1906.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1904 (222); Venice Biennale, 1905 (Room XII, 14); lent to the Tate Gallery from 1905 by Dame Katharine Furse; B.F.A.C., 1906 (26).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Furse, 1940, p.250.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Royal Academy Pictures</i>, 1904, p.16; <i>Tate Gallery Illustrations</i>, 1928, pl.87; J. B. Manson, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1929, pl.21 (in colour).</p>
<p>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/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> of the artist's wife, painted in 1903–4. A sketch for the picture was exhibited at the B.F.A.C., 1906 (12). Dame Katharine Furse, G.B.E., R.R.C., 1875–1952, was the daughter of John Addington Symonds and spent much of her childhood in the Alps and in Italy. She learned wood carving and carved some of the frames for her husband's pictures. She married the artist in 1900. During the 1914–18 war she organized the V.A.D. and later the W.R.N.S. From 1928 to 1938 she was the Director of the World Bureau of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. Author of <i>Hearts and Pomegranates</i>, 1940, an autobiography.</p>
<p>She wrote (<i>loc. cit.</i>) that the picture was painted at their home in Yockley, but as she had a tendency to faint she did not pose much: ‘Charles had the design of the windblown figure in his mind and knew exactly what he wished to produce. But there came a moment when he was very anxious to see the whole effect, so I dressed up and my stepmother-in-law Gertrude was brought in to try the bellows under the skirt, which was tied up to a support to help the “wind”. We hired two greyhounds for the picture a white and a black and when he wanted a piebald, Charles made a <i>combinazione</i> of the two.’ She adds that 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/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> was used in a great many advertisements at the time and even in a political cartoon by F. C. Gould, published in the <i>Westminster Gazette</i>, showing Arthur Balfour as Diana and Joseph and Austen Chamberlain as the dogs. She carved the frame for ‘Diana’ and describes (p.216) how, through an error of measurement, it was made too small and had to be enlarged, and how disappointed she was when he covered the gilding with brown <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/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>medium</span></a> in order to tone it down.</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
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals clothing and personal items coat dame dog, greyhound Furse, Katharine, Dame hat, bonnet heathland hill individuals: female landscape leisure and pastimes named individuals objects people portraits recreational activities royalty and social rank standing Symonds, Katharine walking weather wind woman work and occupations