On a Fine Day by Elizabeth Adela Forbes (née Amstrong), ARWS (1859-1912). Oil on canvas. H 99 x W 147 cm. Collection: Guildhall Art Gallery. Accession number 949, presented by A. Forbes Stanhope, 1913. Image kindly made available by the City of London Corporation on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC), via Art UK.

The feeling of freedom and gaiety here is irresistible:

Mrs Stanhope Forbes is deep in the secrets of the "sweet influences" of outdoor nature.... how joyously does the sunshine flooding the heights echo the mirth of the girls whirling their mediaeval draperies to the lilt of old Franco Sacchetti’s song, “Su! ragazze!” “Be stirring, girls! we ought to have a run!” Franco says, “So one by one they caught hands, catch who can. Then singing, singing, to the river they ran; to the river, the river, and the merry-go-round carries them at a bound to the mill o’er the river.”

The artist, carrying out Sacchetti’s description, seems to have caught the spirit of the poet across the years, and visualised the “ridda gioconda” of which he sang. [Birch 70-71]

The golden fields in the distance, the gentle summer sky above, and the almost turquoise water, all show nature at its most idyllic. As for the women in their long bright dresses, they incline or throw back their heads in abandon, yet their linked hands create a feeling of togetherness, putting them in perfect harmony with each other and their surroundings. The medieval cast of their costumes adds another touch of romance to the painting. — Jacqueline Banerjee.

Related Material

Bibliography

Birch, Mrs Lionel. Stanhope A. Forbes, ARA, and Elizabeth Stanhope Forbes, ARWS. London: Cassell, 1906. Internet Archive. Contributed by the Kahl/Austin Foundation. Web. 27 February 2021.


Created 27 February 2021