The Convent Garden. c.1857-1865. Oil on canvas. 18 1/4 x 24 3/8 inches (46.2 a 61.8 cm). Collection of Sudley House, accession no. WAG261. Kindly released by the gallery, via Art UK, on the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

This appears to be another early work that Leslie painted while still under the influence of Pre-Raphaelitism and before he developed his mature style. It features a medieval maiden kneeling to place tulips she has picked into a glass vase. Irises are also seen growing in the garden bed in front of the lawn and next to a low stone and brick wall. A lute belonging to the young woman is lying on its side next to the wall. A nun has walked through a gate into the garden with its red brick and wrought iron enclosure. Wrought iron had been in use since the medieval period so its presence is not an anachronism. Tulips, however, were not introduced from Turkey into Europe until shortly after 1550. In the background is a large red-brick building meant to represent the convent.

Edward Morris has speculated that this painting might possibly be Eloisa that Leslie exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857, no 439: "Heloise spent much of her life in a convent and the lute in the foreground might symbolize her love for Abelard; neither the architecture nor the costume seems, however, to be 12th century"(280). Unfortunately critics tended to ignore this picture so there are no contemporary reviews to describe the composition of Eloisa.

Links to Related Material

Bibliography

Morris, Edward. Victorian & Edwardian Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery & at Sudley House. London: HMSO Publications, 1996, 279-80.

The Convent Garden. Art UK. Web. 8 August 2023.


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Created 8 August 2023