The Widow of Wöhlm, 1859. Watercolour on paper, 18 x 23 inches (46 x 58.5 cm). Private collection. Click on image to enlarge it.
This is one of the best works Burton painted based on his time in Bavaria in the 1850s where he painted in Franconia, Nuremberg, Bamberg and the villages of Muggendorf and Wöhlm. The traditional costumes worn by the widow and the young girl are those of Upper Franconia. The model for the daughter appears to be the same as the child depicted in his Sunday Morning. This watercolour is characteristic of his early style before he became influenced by the second wave of Pre-Raphaelitism and the Aesthetic Movement. Its strong colours and meticulous draughtsmanship, however, might perhaps have been inspired by the early works of J. E. Millais.
When this work was shown at the O.W.S. in 1859 it was favourably reviewed. The critic for The Art Journal wrote: “No. 128. ‘The Widow of Wöhlm,’ F. W. Burton. A group of two figures, the widow and her daughter, brilliant in flesh tint, and painted with sincere feeling, without a thought of dalliance with a single circumstance that could rob the widow and her child of one throb of sympathy. It is, however, a singular oversight, that both faces should be turned the same way. It is a work of great power” (174) The reviewer for The Illustrated London News was lavish in his praise:
F. W. Burton, in ‘The Widow of Wöhlm’ (128), has produced a work of extraordinary power and intense expression – one worthy, indeed, of the great art of an age gone by, and sufficient of itself to warrant a hope of revival of it amongst us. The subject is that of a widowed mother and her child kneeling in prayer before the altar in a church, the structure and arrangement of which are marked by the utmost simplicity. The same simplicity also pervades the forms and attitudes of the figures and all of the few accessories, the chief charm of the picture lying in the faces which teem with expression. The poor woman, in her widow’s attire, including an unbecoming white head-dress, looks around to where her child kneels before her, her eyes suffused with tears, red with long habitual weeping – her expression that of utter desolateness, yet of submission to the supreme will which has made her desolate. The face of the little child, so healthy and ruddy in complexion, yet dimmed with a sort of sadness, she knows not why, from the mere habit, perhaps, of seeing her mother’s sorrow, completes the domestic interest of the group, the touching quality of which must be seen to be appreciated, and, being seen, will not soon be forgotten. [450]
The critic for Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine was also appreciative: “The picture of highest intent is Mr. Burton's ‘Widow of Wöhlm,’ kneeling upon church floor, prayer- book in hand, the little daughter of childlike innocence and beauty by her side. The manner is evidently closely founded upon the early Flemish school of Van Eyck. The drawing of the head and hands, the cast of the drapery, the whole attitude and purpose, indicate severe and careful study. Though small, there is not another picture of the year which can assert stronger claim to the high dignity of art” (141).
Bibliography
“The Society of Painters in Water Colours.” The Art Journal New Series 5 (1859): 173-74
“Fine Arts. Society of Painters in Water Colours.” The Illustrated London News 34 (May 7, 1859): 450.
“London Exhibitions – Conflict of the Schools.” Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine 86 (August 1859): 141.
Last modified 12 April 2022