Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mother's Day -- 2007
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
John Singer Sargent -- American painter
1889
Tate Gallery, London
Oil on canvas
221 x 114.3 cm
Presented by Sir Joseph Duveen 1906
Jpg:
Tate Gallery, London

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Probably the closest Sargent ever got to the Pre-Raphael Brotherhood was with his paintings of the famous actress, Dame Ellen Terry (1847–1928) as Lady Macbeth after the first performance in the role; and yet this is not at all an allegorical painting, just a straight portrait of the actress in costume playing Lady Macbeth. Still, the tone, the costume, the medieval implications are very much in theme with Edward Burne-Jones and the Aesthetic Pre-Raphaelitism.

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