The Hymn of the Last Supper [The Hymn of the Lord’s Supper], 1869. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches,
This was the final painting that James Smetham exhibited at the Royal Academy and Smetham considered it to be his finest work. It had a long gestation and took over twenty years from the first “squared idea” until it was finally finished, coincidentally on April 8, 1869, the anniversary of the Last Supper itself. An early drawing of this subject had been praised by John Ruskin in a lecture he delivered in 1854. Smetham wrote about the painting in a letter: “The sentiment of the subject has possessed me; a large space of deep unsearchable gloom in the room where they are assembled, leading off into other portions of the house, and the face of Judas waiting a moment outside to listen to the hymn” (Smetham and Davies, Letters, 26). It was purchased even prior to the Royal Academy exhibition by one of his major patrons J. S. Budget for 300 guineas during the week it was shown at D. G. Rossetti’s studio. While in Rossetti’s studio the work had been praised by fellow artists like Frederic Leighton, George Frederic Watts, Ford Madox Brown and Frederick Walker. Watts said of it: “It must be called a great picture, though it is a small one.” (Art Journal, 66 (1904), 282). Fortunately Watts was one of the hangers at the Royal Academy exhibition that year, and it was through his intervention that it was hung on the line. A smaller study for this picture was later sold to Lord Mount Temple for 120 gns in 1873.
When this work was shown at the Royal Academy it was initially well received. The critic for The Athenaeum, likely F. G. Stephens, said: “ Mr. J. Smetham…sends a very remarkable work, styled ‘The Hymn of the Last Supper’ (450), the design of which involves a novel subject, with originality of treatment” (609) The picture was later savaged in The Art Journal, however, an onslaught which went beyond criticising the picture but also attacked the artist as being insincere and unsuited to his profession. The reviewer wrote: “Also we are sorry it is our duty to pronounce as little short of offensive, another work aspiring to the pure sphere of sacred Art, bearing as its title ‘The Hymn of the Lord’s Supper’ (450). Instead of the simplicity and the truth which clothe the religion of the heart, there is here sign of little save pretence and affectation. We will not name the painter because it may be hoped that he will repent of his evil, and yet find an honest vocation in some humbler walk of Art”(199-200) This type of hostile criticism was obviously destructive for such a deeply religious and hypersensitive person as Smetham. The success of The Hymn of the Last Supper led Smetham to attempt other large paintings, such as Hesper and The Women of the Crucifixion, but these proved unsuccessful and were rejected by the Royal Academy.
Bibliography
“Fine Arts. The Royal Academy.” The Athenaeum, No. 2166 (May 1, 1869: 609-11.
“The Royal Academy”, The Art Journal, New Series, 8 (July 1, 1869): 197-204.
Smetham, James. The Letters of James Smetham: With an Introductory Memoir, Sarah Smetham and William Davies, Eds. London: Macmillan, 1892.
Last modified 23 March 2022