"Oh, Swallow, Swallow," by John Melhuish Strudwick (1849-1937). 1894. Oil on canvas on panel. 36 5/8 x 23 1/4 inches (93 x 59 cm). Collection of Sudley House, Liverpool, accession no. WAG 305. Image courtesy of Sudley House, Museums of Liverpool, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC). [Click on the images on this page to enlarge them.]
Strudwick exhibited this picture at the New Gallery exhibition of 1895, no. 64, and then later at the Victorian Era Exhibition held at Earls Court in London in 1897, no. 80. When it was shown at the New Gallery it was accompanied in the catalogue by these lines from the eighth stanza of Alfred Tennyson's poem "The Princess, A Melody":
O Swallow, flying from the golden woods,
Fly to her, and pipe and woo her, and make her mine,
And tell her, tell her, that I follow thee.
The painting shows a beautiful young woman absorbed in her thoughts, in a brilliant red and gold brocade silk dress, and seated on a window seat before a leaded-glass bay window. She is holding a golden chain with heart pendants in her hands. A swallow is flying past and delivering a message of love from an admirer. A combination of red and white roses can be seen on the window seat and lying on the floor. Red roses symbolize love, passion, and desire in the language of flowers while white roses symbolize purity and innocence. The room is filled with beautiful objects, including an illuminated manuscript, a stringed musical instrument, a hammered brass charger, and a large ornate box. The window seat is surrounded by a decorative frieze. An idyllic landscape can be seen in the background.
Closer view of the upper part of the painting, showing the "idyllic landscape."
The painting was commissioned by George Holt in 1893. When it was completed in July 1894 Holt complained it was too dark. He therefore returned the painting to Strudwick in March 1895 who then altered the dress and face of the maiden and made the painting lighter in tone. (Morris 443). In a letter of July 16, 1894 Strudwick described the meaning of the painting to Holt:
The picture is quite simple and represents nothing more extraordinary than a girl sitting at a window, & a bird flying past. The girl holds in her hands a golden chain - perhaps it was given to her by her lover before he went to the land of the "golden woods" So it's a fortunate time for the swallow to come with his message; & although the girl does not even turn her head (the chirping of a bird among those orchard trees is too common an occurrence to make her do that) she hears the piping mixed with evening sounds & fading light & one can't doubt but the swallow is fulfilling his instructions in an exemplary manner…. I don't imagine the picture can be accepted as a quite exact illustration of the verse, it is not English enough in character or realistic enough in treatment for that, but since the lines suggested the picture I think I am justified in using them as its title. [qtd in Morris 443]
Closer view of the lower part of the painting, showing the "hammered brass charger, and a large ornate box."
In 1864 John Everett Millais had done a beautiful painting of a young woman standing by a window and leaning on a chair entitled Swallow, Swallow, also based on Tennyson's poem. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1865 and sold at Sotheby's, London, on December 13, 2005. Stephen Kolsteren felt Strudwick's picture was influenced by this painting by Millais as well as by his Mariana of 1851 (4).
Contemporary Reviews of the Painting
Despite its beauty this painting was little reviewed, except for the usual derogatory report by F.G. Stephens in The Athenaeum:
Opposed in every respect to this dashing and showy performance is Mr. Strudwick's laboured illustration (64) of the late Laureate's "O Swallow, flying from the golden woods, Fly to her." In an elaborately adorned chamber, crowded with all sorts of bric-à-brac, and what auctioneers call "antiques," sits a rather weak-minded, young lady with lightless eyes and an expression which has not the least animation, supposed to be the damsel for whom the lover's message was intended. Inane and passionless, she will never respond to his cry; her eyes will not attract him, nor will she trouble herself to rise to admit the swallow when that bird reaches this wonderful chamber; she is doing something with a necklace, but what that is does not appear, while in her figure and its surroundings we have the fruits of mechanical polishing which, not being researchful, is not true finish, and a technique which, not being organic, is not really artistic. [615]
Bibliography
Kolsteren, Steven. "The Pre-Raphaelite Art of John Melhuish Strudwick (1849-1937)." The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic Studies I:2 (Fall 1988): 3-4 & 11-12, no. 23.
Morris, Edward. Victorian & Edwardian Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery & at Sudley House. London: HMSO Publications, 199. 443-45.
"Oh, Swallow, Swallow." Art UK. Web. 1 October 2025.
"Oh, Swallow, Swallow." Liverpool Museums. Web. 1 October 2025.
Stephens, Frederic George. "Fine Arts. The New Gallery." The Athenaeum No. 3524 (11 May 1895): 614-16.
Victorian and Edwardian Art. London: Sotheby's (13 December 2005): lot 21, 52-57.
Created 1 October 2025