The Bridge of Sighs

William James Grant (1829-1866)

Oil on panel

mid-1850s

5 inches in Diameter

Inscribed verso 'William James Grant (1829-1866)/ Quotation from Thomas Hood "The Bridge of Sighs"', inscribed on slip 'Take her up tenderly/Lift her with care/ Fashion'd so slenderly/ Young and so fair' and with artist's name.

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This powerful little picture dates from the mid 1850s, early for a modern life subject of such uncompromising bleakness. The title is taken from a poem by Thomas Hood of 1844 about a young woman who has sinned and thrown herself into the river. By this time, the lot of the fallen woman in Victorian society was covered by poets and novelists, but painters were slower to depict it. The Tottenham coachmaker BG Windus, who owned this picture and at least fifteen others by Grant (including another version with the same title, probably larger, untraced), amassed a great collection of Turners, and later of the Pre-Raphaelites, including Millais's Isabella, Mariana and Ophelia, and Hunt's The Scapegoat. — Maas gallery

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Last modified 4 September 2014