The Love Letter, by William Shakespeare Burton (1824-1916). Oil on canvas. 6 ¾ x 8 ½ inches (17.2 x 21.6 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of ©2003 Christie's Images Limited, shown here by kind permission (right click disabled; not to be downloaded).
Burton had married his first wife, his cousin Marian Rainford, in March 1857 but she died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1862. By the spring of 1861 the couple had been living in St. Peter Port, Guernsey. It was here he met his future second wife, Mina Elizabeth Adlington (1840-1911), a novelist, who he married in St. Peter Port on December 3, 1863. Although this small oil is dated January 1866 it is likely that Mina was the model considering the subject matter. A young woman in a fashionable mauve dress, seated in a sparsely furnished middle class interior, is shown intently reading a letter held in her right hand. Her left hand rests on her chest below the neck showing her level of concentration. She has no ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, intimating she is unmarried.
There is a strong resemblance between the woman reading the letter and the model depicted in Burton's small watercolour entitled Sleep that is dated 11 January 1866.
Bibliography
The Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures and Works of Art. London: Christie's (February 19, 2003): lot 260. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4051938
Created 17 June 2024