The cunning skill to break a heart, by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, ROI, RWS 1872-1945

The Cunning Skill to Break a Heart

Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, ROI, RWS 1872-1945

1900

Watercolor

15 1/2" x 10 1/4"

Signed with a monogram

Ex-Sotheby's

Source: Sparrow 33

The title comes from the sixteenth-century masque, Cupid and Death, by James Shirley. This seems to have been popular in the nineteenth century, having been republished by John Murray in 1833. [Click on the image to enlarge it. Commentary continues below.]

Formatting and text by George P. Landow and Jacqueline Banerjee, with information added by Pamela Nunn.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

The passage from Shirley deals with various ways in which Death can be inflicted. Here, a male figure, evidently a rejected suitor, stands on a bridge with one hand covering his face, obviously in the depths of despair and probably suicidal, while a proud woman, with straight back, head held high, flushed cheeks and a half-smiling face, moves away from him briskly, lifting her skirt to keep it clear of the ground. The composition is crisp and the implications clear — a minor tour de force.

Bibliography

Sparrow, Walter Shaw. "On Some Water-colour pictures by Miss Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale." The International Studio [New York], Vol. 14 (1901): 31-44, in the Hathi Trust website (digitalised from a copy at Harvard University). Web. 29 December 2018.

Created 26 February 2012

Last modified 29 December 2018