Jessie Macgregor

In the Reign of Terror

Jessie Macgregor (1847-1919)

1889

Oil on canvas

H 92 x W 72 cm

Credit: Walker Gallery, Liverpool

WAG 2826; purchased, 1891

Shown at the Royal Academy in 1891 and at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, the painting imagines the plight of a Royalist mother with an infant during the French Revolution. [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

Closer view of the cradle and the mother's hands

Image download and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee

This image comes up at Art UK on an Open or Creative Commons search (licence:1cc/page/1).

Everything about the mother suggests that she belongs to the aristocracy — the beautifully carved mahogany dresser in the background, the matching design on the cradle, her own rich red, lace-trimmed robe, and the baby's pretty bonnet and fine coverlet. She leans towards the cradle protectively, gripping its far edge, with an expression of, indeed, absolute terror and despair. This is a very expressive historical genre painting. Sympathy for the suffering of women during this period in France had also been the subject of Rebecca Solomom's The Claim for Shelter [The Fugitive Royalists] (1862).

Bibliography

Hadjiafxendi, Kriaki, and Patricia Zakreski, eds. Crafting the Woman Professional in the Long Nineteenth Century: Artistry and Industry in Britain. London: Routledge, 2016 (see p. 178).

Harris, Elree I, and Shirley R. Scott. A Gallery of Her Own: Ann Annotated Bibliography of Women in Victorian Painting. London: Routledge, 2013.

"n the Reign of Terror. Art UK. Web. 19 March 2022.

Created 18 March 2022