Tempera paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Chantrey Bequest
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frank-cadogan-cowper-950" aria-label="More by Frank Cadogan Cowper" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Frank Cadogan Cowper</a>
St Agnes in Prison Receiving Heaven Shining White Garment
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1905
actions: postures and motions
angel
bowl
bread
Caxton, William, ‘Golden Legend’
chastity
children
clothing and personal items
crime and punishment
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
flying
food and drink
girl
hand / hands raised
interiors
kneeling
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
miracle
nudes
objects
people
prison
prisoner
public and municipal
religion and belief
robe
Saints
society
St Agnes
universal religious imagery
vessels and containers
<p>This is a scene from the life of St Agnes, based on William Caxton’s fifteenth-century <i>Golden Legend</i>. At the age of thirteen Agnes rejected marriage and dedicated her life to God. She refused to renounce her vow of chastity and was stripped of her clothes and taken to a brothel. She prayed for divine intervention and her room was filled by a miraculous light. Her hair grew long, and a white robe appeared before her. This is Cowper the moment shown here.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting tempera 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
12 November 2005 – 23 April 2006
2006-04-23
12 November 2005 – 23 April 2005
2005-04-23
2005-11-12
Lowry Museum (Salford, UK)
2005-11-12
The Art of White
Loan-out
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
14 December 2018 – 28 April 2019
2019-04-28
2018-12-14
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia)
19 June 2019 – 6 October 2019
2019-10-06
2019-06-19
Palazzo Reale (Milan, Italy)
13 May 2021 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
2021-05-13
Hungarian National Gallery (Budapest, Hungary)
2018-12-14
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
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
St Agnes in Prison Receiving from Heaven the ‘Shining White Garment’
support: 743 × 451 mm
frame: 954 × 660 × 110 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> 1905
<p>This is a scene from the life of St Agnes, based on William Caxton’s fifteenth-century <i>Golden Legend</i>. At the age of thirteen Agnes rejected marriage and dedicated her life to God. She refused to renounce her vow of chastity and was stripped of her clothes and taken to a brothel. She prayed for divine intervention and her room was filled by a miraculous light. Her hair grew long, and a white robe appeared before her. This is Cowper the moment shown here.</p>

Display caption
2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01961</b> ST AGNES IN PRISON RECEIVING FROM HEAVEN THE ‘SHINING WHITE GARMENT’ 1905
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘F. C. Cowper 1905’ on column b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 29 1/4×17 3/4 (74×45).
<br/>Chantrey Purchase from the artist 1905.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> R.A., 1905 (636).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Royal Academy Pictures</i>, 1905, p.23.</p>
<p>A young Christian martyr in Rome, A.D. 304. The subject is taken from <i>The Golden Legend, or Lives of the Saints as Englished by William Caxton</i>: ‘And thus St Agnes that refused to do sacrifice to the idols, was delivered naked to go to the bordel, but anon as she was uncloathed God gave her such grace that the hairs of her head became so long that they covered all her body to her feet, so that her body was not seen. And when St Agnes entered into the bordel anon she found the Angel of God ready for to defend her, and environed St Agnes with a bright clearness in such wise that no man might see her ne come to her. Then made she of the bordel her oratory, and in making her prayers to God she saw tofore her a white vesture, and anon therewith she clad her and said: “I thank the Jesu Christ which accountest me with thy Virgins and hast sent me this vesture.”’</p>
<p>The background and setting are entirely imaginary. The sitter for St Agnes was Miss Janet Hird, then eighteen years old. She married Sidney Canton, an official of the National Provincial Bank, and sat for several other pictures by the artist. The figure of the angel was painted from Miss Gertrude Kidd, an actress. (Letter from the artist, 23 January 1956).</p>
<p>The style shows the influence of Ford Madox Brown.</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
2004-07-16T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions angel bowl bread Caxton, William, ‘Golden Legend’ chastity children clothing and personal items crime and punishment emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas female flying food and drink girl hand / hands raised interiors kneeling literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) miracle nudes objects people prison prisoner public and municipal religion and belief robe Saints society St Agnes universal religious imagery vessels and containers