Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-lindsay-windus-607" aria-label="More by William Lindsay Windus" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Lindsay Windus</a>
Too Late
Presented by Andrew Bain 1921
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
arm / arms raised
birth to death
children
comforting
consumption
couple
death
deceit
diseases and conditions
embracing
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
field
girl
grief
group
groups
guilt
landscape
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
love
man
people
sex and relationships
society
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, ‘Come not, when I am dead’
weeping
woman
<p>This painting is typical of the sentimental subject matter favoured by some Victorian artists. The woman on the left is dying of tuberculosis. The man to her right is her lover. Having earlier abandoned her, he has returned, but too late for them to enjoy any time together. He hides his face in shame at his behaviour. Windus emphasises the woman’s physical illness by contrasting her pale clothes and sunken features with those of the rosy-cheeked woman in a rich purple dress embracing her.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2018</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
1 August 2005 – 2 March 2008
2008-03-02
1 August 2007
2007-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
Victorian Paintings of Modern Life
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
Too Late
support: 952 × 762 mm
frame: 1327 × 1137 × 107 mm
Presented by Andrew Bain 1921
<p>This picture is typical of the sentimental subject matter favoured by some <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> artists. When it was exhibited in 1859 it was accompanied by a quotation from Tennyson's poem 'Come not when I am dead':

</p><p>- If it were thine error or thy crime<br/>I care no longer, being all unblest;<br/>Wed whom thou wilt, but I am sick of time;<br/>And I desire to rest.

</p><p>The woman on the left of the picture is dying of consumption and a broken heart.  Her errant lover has returned to her side, but too late for them to enjoy any time together. She appears delicate and drawn and supports herself with a stick; all she desires is death and a release from her illness. Windus emphasises the woman's unhealthy appearance by contrasting her pale clothes, lank hair and pinched features with those of her ringletted, rosy-cheeked companion.  She is clearly agitated by the appearance of her lover, who hides his face in shame, symbolising his deceit. 

</p><p>The theme of the picture may have partly been suggested by Windus's brother-in-law's death from consumption in 1856.  Sadly, Windus's wife, Mary Tonge, was also to die prematurely, from cancer, in 1862.  In this respect, his own marriage was perhaps also 'too late', since they were only together for four years.

</p><p>Following 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/p/pre-raphaelite" title="Glossary definition for 'Pre-Raphaelite'"><span>Pre-Raphaelite</span></a> aesthetic of truth to nature, Windus painted much of the picture in the open air. 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/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> setting was a view from a fellow artist's garden at Liscard, near Birkenhead, looking south-west towards Bidston Hill, with the Welsh hills just visible in the background. A Mr Borthwick posed for the lover, but none of the other models have been identified.

</p><p>The picture was bought by Windus's patron, the Liverpool tobacco merchant John Miller, who was an early collector of Pre-Raphaelite art.  Miller also owned the small sketch of 1857 on which the picture was based and which he lent to the Hogarth Club in 1857-8. Windus sent the picture itself for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1859, where it was demolished by the critic John Ruskin (1819-1900).  Ruskin recorded in his <i>Academy Notes</i>, 'Something wrong here: either this painter has been ill; or his picture has been sent to the Academy in a hurry; or he has sickened his temper and dimmed his sight by reading melancholy ballads.'  Windus lacked self- confidence and was greatly discouraged by such criticism. He was naturally of a melancholy disposition and after the death of his wife in 1862 he withdrew into obscurity.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Leslie Parris (ed.), <i>The Pre-Raphaelites</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery London 1984, reprinted 1994, p.173; reproduced p.173.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-12-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>This painting is typical of the sentimental subject matter favoured by some Victorian artists. The woman on the left is dying of tuberculosis. The man to her right is her lover. Having earlier abandoned her, he has returned, but too late for them to enjoy any time together. He hides his face in shame at his behaviour. Windus emphasises the woman’s physical illness by contrasting her pale clothes and sunken features with those of the rosy-cheeked woman in a rich purple dress embracing her.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2018-08-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults arm / arms raised birth to death children comforting consumption couple death deceit diseases and conditions embracing emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas field girl grief group groups guilt landscape literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) love man people sex and relationships society Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, ‘Come not, when I am dead’ weeping woman