Thomas Jones Barker, The Bride of Death (La fiancée de la Mort), 1839, Victoria Art Gallery. Oil on canvas, 124.5 x W 167.1 cm. One of two royal commissions Barker executed while he lived in Paris, it was painted for Princess Marie, daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. The painting's entry in the catalogue for the Paris Salon of 1841 includes the old French ballad that inspired Barker's painting:<div class="poem">
<p>Laure est là sur son lit, comme un ange qui dort :<br>
Viens couronner de fleurs ta jeune fiancée!<br>
—Mais ses yeux sont éteints, sa poitrine est glacée.<br>
   Elle est épouse de la mort!<br><br>
Pauvre amant, le trépas t'a ravi l'espérance!<br>
Elle t'aimait dés l'aube, on t'éloigna le soir;<br>
Ton départ pour son coeur fut comme un coup de lance!<br>
   Elle est morte de désespoir!<br><br>
Des fleurs, des fleurs sur elle!... Orne sa blonde tête<br>
De ces filles des bois aux modestes nattraits;<br>
Point de roses surtout; ce sont des fleurs de fête.<br>
   Des violettes, des cyprès!<br><br>
Mais ne la pleure pas!... Elle avait lrop.de charmes<br>
Pour vivre dan un monde ignorant du vrai beau.<br>
Cet ange, prisonnier dans nos vallon de larmes,<br>
   Devient libre par le tombeau!<br></p>
<ul><li><ul><li><ul><li><ul><li><ul><li><br></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><p>Laure is there on her bed, like a sleeping angel:<br>
Come crown your young bride with flowers!<br>
But her eyes are extinguished, her breast is frozen.<br>
   She is the wife of death!<br><br>
Poor lover, death has robbed you of hope!<br>
She loved you at dawn, she was taken at dusk;<br>
Your departure was like a spear in her heart!<br>
   She died of despair!<br><br>
Flowers, flowers for her! Adorn her fair head<br>
like those girls of the forest with modest charms;<br>
Above all no roses; they are festive flowers.<br>
   Violets, cypresses!<br><br>
But weep not for her! She was too sublime<br>
To live in a world ignorant of true beauty.<br>
This angel, a prisoner in our valley of tears,<br>
   Set free by the tomb!
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<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Thomas_Jones_Barker" class="extiw" title="w:en:Thomas Jones Barker"><span title="British artist (1815-1882)">Thomas Jones Barker</span></a>
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