The Caged Bird by John Liston Byam Shaw, RI AWRS 1872-1919

The Caged Bird

John Byam Liston Shaw, 1872-1919

1907

Oil on panel

37 x 28 inches, 94 x 71 centimetres

Provenance: Glen Byam Shaw, the artist's son; Mrs R. 0. Warren 1932; Christie's London, 23 March 1984, lot 67.

Exhibited: London, The New Gallery, 1907 Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Byam Shaw, 1986, number 27.

Commentary by Peter Nahum and Sally Burgess

In The Caged Bird, Byam Shaw uses allegory. The caged bird is literally released, whilst the girl herself will never be free to follow her heart. As the youngest daughter, her duties lie with her ageing parents. The startling clarity and gaiety of the colours set in the old garden at Condover Hall in Shropshire are in sharp contrast to the sobering reality of her situation.

The model for the painting was Maud Tindal Atkinson, an artist pupil who exhibited at the Royal Academy 1907, from whom he painted a life size watercolour which hung at the Royal Academy in 1906.

The symbolism of the release of a caged bird in Seventeenth-Century Dutch painting signified the loss of virginity of the owner. As Maud was his favourite pupil, it would seem apparent that this hidden meaning was not lost on the artist.

Related Materials

The Revitalization of Pre-Raphaelitism in Byam Shaw's The Caged Bird

References

Nahum, Peter, and Sally Burgess. Pre-Raphaelite-Symbolist-Visionary. London: Peter Nahum at Leicester Galleries. Catalogue number 46.

Cole, Rex Vicat . The Art & Life of Byam Shaw. Seeley Service & Co, London & J B Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1932.

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Last modified 30 November 2004