Study after Convent Thoughts, by Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873). 1853. Black ink on paper. 13 x 7 3/4 inches (33.0 x 19.7 cm). Collection of Tate Britain, reference no. NO3520. Image courtesy of Tate Britain, released under the terms of Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED.
This is a copy of a drawing, dated 1851, that Collins gave to Thomas Combe which is now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, accession no. WA1894.59. Christina Payne feels the drawing "may have been made after the painting, or at least its background, was completed. The painting's setting, with its many kinds of lilies, was executed in the summer of 1850, partly in Thomas Combe's garden at the Clarendon Press in Oxford" (168). Collins was still working on the figure of the nun in January 1851, however, making it likely that this is a preliminary drawing for the picture.
The drawing follows the composition of the finished painting closely, although there are obvious differences. In the drawing the foreground and background of the composition is greatly simplified, as are the beds of flowers to either side of the nun. Even how the nun is portrayed in the drawing is not identical to the painting. Her facial features are dissimilar, suggesting a different model was used. The nun's posture differs slightly because her head is somewhat more upright. She holds her missal in her left hand somewhat differently based on the positions of her fingers. Even the way her habit is shown, including its folds, is at variance with the painting. Collins had borrowed the nun's costume that William Holman Hunt used for Claudia and Isabella. At one point Collins had written to Hunt for advice about what to do since the sleeve of the costume hung down too far for his model: "Now though under ordinary circumstances this would be a pleasing trait of costume as it does away with the necessity of painting one of the hands, still in my case it is awkward, inasmuch as part of the story depends on the hand and the book held in it" (qtd. in Warner 88).
Robert Upstone has discussed the religious symbolism incorporated into the drawing by Collins:
The nun contemplates a passion flower, so called because it symbolises the story of Jesus's suffering – at the centre is a cross, while the five petals and five sepals represent the ten Apostles; the filaments within the flower the crown of thorns; and the five anthers, Christ's five wounds. But it is also a reference here to a life away from physical passion that is the nun's vocation. Collins was a deeply religious man who was ascetic by nature and attracted to the ceremonial and mystical elements of High Anglicanism…. But the picture is deeply symbolic: The white lilies are emblems of purity and the Virgin Mary, the fish symbolise Christ, while the concept of the enclosed garden is traditionally associated both with the Madonna and more generally with virginity." (64).
Bibliography
Payne, Christina. Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum / Gomer Press, 2021, cat.61, 168-69.
Study after Convent Thoughts. Tate. Web. 17 September 2024.
Upstone, Robert. The Pre-Raphaelite Dream. Paintings and Drawings from the Tate Collection. London: Tate Publishing, 2003,cat. 14. 64-65.
Warner, Malcolm. The Pre-Raphaelites. London: Tate Gallery Publications / Penguin Books, 1984, cat. 33. 87-88.
Created 17 September 2024