Oil paint on mahogany
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-holman-hunt-287" aria-label="More by William Holman Hunt" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Holman Hunt</a>
Claudio and Isabella
Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1919
‘Measure for Measure’
abstract concepts
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chain
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chastity
Claudio
corruption
corruption - fallen petals
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Isabella
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period: Middle Ages
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<p>This scene represents a moment of complex moral dilemma for Claudio and Isabella, characters from Shakespeare’s <span>Measure for Measure</span>. Claudio has been sentenced to death by Angelo, deputy to the duke of Vienna. He can only be saved if his sister, Isabella, sacrifices her virginity to Angelo. Claudio’s awkward pose draws attention to his prison shackles. The apple blossom blown by the wind at his feet symbolises his readiness to buy his own reprieve with Isabella’s chastity. Her white habit emphasises her purity. Holman Hunt summarised the moral of his picture as: ‘Thou shall not do evil that good may come.’</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint mahogany
24 October 2001 – 11 July 2005
2005-07-11
24 October 2001
2001-10-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-24
Making British History
Collection based display
1 August 2005 – 30 July 2007
2007-07-30
1 August 2005
2005-08-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-01
The Pre-Raphaelites
Collection based display
11 October 2008 – 6 September 2009
2009-09-06
11 October 2008 – 11 January 2009
2009-01-11
2008-10-11
Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester, UK)
http://www.manchestergalleries.org
14 February 2009 – 10 May 2009
2009-05-10
2009-02-14
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
13 June 2009 – 6 September 2009
2009-09-06
2009-06-13
Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, USA)
2008-10-11
Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelite Vision
Loan-out
30 November 2009 – 8 February 2010
2010-02-08
30 November 2009 – 8 February 2010
2010-02-08
2009-11-30
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
2009-11-30
Facets of History in the Mirror of XIXth Century European Art
Loan-out
12 September 2012 – 31 January 2014
2014-01-31
12 September 2012 – 13 January 2013
2013-01-13
2012-09-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
17 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-17
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
10 June 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-06-10
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
25 January 2014 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
2014-01-25
Mori Arts Centre (Tokyo, Japan)
19 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
2014-04-19
Palazzo Chiablese (Turin, Italy)
2012-09-12
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
Exhibition
17 February 2013 – 31 August 2014
2014-08-31
17 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-17
National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA)
10 June 2013 – 13 October 2013
2013-10-13
2013-06-10
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
25 January 2014 – 6 April 2014
2014-04-06
2014-01-25
Mori Arts Centre (Tokyo, Japan)
19 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
2014-04-19
Palazzo Chiablese (Turin, Italy)
2013-02-17
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde
Loan-out
14 December 2018 – 19 September 2021
2021-09-19
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
Claudio and Isabella
support: 758 × 426 × 10 mm
frame: 997 × 668 × 80 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> 1919
<p>The picture illustrates the dilemma of Claudio and Isabella and is based on a scene from Shakespeare's <i>Measure for Measure</i>.  Claudio's life can only be saved if his sister Isabella agrees to sacrifice her virginity to Angelo, the absent Duke's deputy.  The moment is summed up by these lines from the play, which Hunt inscribed on the picture frame: 'Claudio. Death is a fearful thing.  Isabella. And shamed life is hateful.'  However, 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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> is more than a mere illustration of Shakespeare's words, and Hunt conditions our response through the picture's subtle imagery.

</p><p>Isabella is an upright figure, symbolising her virtue and moral rectitude. Hunt remains faithful to the details of the play by dressing her in the simple white habit of the order of St Clare, further emphasising her purity. She is bathed in sunlight, thus linking her to the outdoor scene, with its apple blossom in full bloom and a distant view of a church, a reminder of duty and Christian ethics. Claudio's contorted pose, as he stands manacled to the wall, acts as a foil to that of Isabella and symbolises his troubled mind.  In contrast to her plain white attire he is richly dressed in black, crimson and purple. Unlike his sister, he is a creature of passion, whose heart rules his head.  Isabella's large hands are placed on his heart in a gesture of restraint, reminding us that it was Claudio's desire for Juliet and her subsequent pregnancy which led to his imprisonment. He turns away from the light and avoids his sister's gaze, glaring moodily into the corner of his cell.  The apple blossom strewn across his cloak was a late addition.  Associated with Isabella, it represents Claudio's willingness to sacrifice his sister's virginity in order to save his own life.

</p><p>When the picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853 it was accompanied by a quotation from <i>Measure for Measure</i>, Act III, scene I:

</p><p></p><blockquote><i> </i> <i>Claud.</i>Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;<br/></blockquote>                       'Tis too horrible!<br/>The weariest, and most loathed worldly life,<br/>That age, ache penury and imprisonment<br/>Can lay on nature, is a paradise<br/>To what we fear of death.

<p>In 1864 Hunt issued a pamphlet advertising 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/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> of <i>Claudio and Isabella</i>, in which he summarised the picture's 'deep and noble moral' as 'Thou shall not do evil that good may come.'

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Leslie Parris (ed), <i>The Pre-Raphaelites</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1984, reprinted 1994, pp.103-4, reproduced p.103 in colour.<br/>Elizabeth Prettejohn, <i>The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites</i>, London 2000, pp.144-5, reproduced p.146, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>The Pre-Raphaelites adapted past stories to modern issues. This painting is an early example of their intimate, psychological approach. This scene represents a moral choice from Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure. Claudio has been sentenced to death by Angelo, deputy to the duke of Vienna. He can be saved if his sister Isabella, a nun, agrees to have sex with Angelo. Claudio’s awkward pose draws attention to his shackled feet. Isabella considers his request, choosing between her fate and her brother’s, with her hands on his chest feeling his beating heart.</p>
</div>

Online caption
2023-11-29T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
abstract concepts adults architecture blossom brother chain characters chastity Claudio corruption corruption - fallen petals emotional states and conditions emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas family features fine arts and music history instrument, lute interiors Isabella literature and fiction man ‘Measure for Measure’ morality nun objects people period: Middle Ages politics and society prison public and municipal purity - white gown religious Shakespeare sister social comment society symbols and personifications tools and machinery virtue window woman work and occupations