Hushed. Frank Holl (1845-1888). 1877. Oil on canvas. Support: 343 x 445 mm / frame: 670 x 770 x 140 mm. Tate Gallery. Presented by Sir Henry Tate in 1894. Reference N01536. Kindly released by the Tate Gallery on the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported) license. [Detail: dishes and teapot below the window-sill.] Click on the image to enlarge it.
In this scene, the mother is bereft; her infant has passed away, as so many did then (see Farr, Part IV, 190). Her little girl is unable to comfort her, and looks on in helpless passivity. The sun shines through the window on the few simple things that help to make up the domestic scene. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Related Material
- Hush! (the first painting of this pair)
- The Man with the Scythe
- Frail Treasures: Child Death and the Victorian Novel
Bibliography
Farr, William. Vital Statistics: A Memorial Volume of Selections from the Reports and Writings of William Farr. Ed. Noel A. Humphreys. London: Offices of the Sanitary Institute, 1885. Internet Archive. Contributed by Robarts Library, University of Toronto. Web. 31 May 2018.
Last modified 28 June 2018