Going to Service, by James Collinson (1825-1881). Oil on canvas. 10 x 12 inches (25.4 x 30.5 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Christie's, shown here by kind permission (right click disabled; not to be reproduced).
This painting is a slightly modified version of The Parting that was included in the exhibition The Pre-Raphaelites, held at the Tate Gallery in 1984. It has been speculated that this painting might, in fact, be the work Collinson exhibited under the title Leaving Home at the British Institution in 1858, no. 566. Unfortunately the critics largely ignored this painting in contemporary reviews so there is little information as to what its composition was like. W. M. Rossetti in The Spectator was the sole exception but from what he did describe this possibility seems very likely: "Leaving Home is the best of Mr. Collinson's recent pictures; the rustic lover who trembles to offer his nosegay to the departing maid very good" (218).
This painting is typical of the many genre pictures Collinson did in his later career. They are all competently painted but, in general, not of great scholarly interest. As Graham Reynolds has pointed out, this particular painting "deals delicately with the distress of parent and suitor at the country girl's departure for town, doubtless under economic duress" (498). In addition her younger brother and little sister have come to see her off as she waits for an approaching stage coach seen in the distance. The version that was exhibited at the Tate in 1984 was slightly larger at 13½ x 16 inches (34.3 x 40.6 cm). The colours of their costumes differ and the father wears a hat rather than a cap. In the principal version the suitor for the young woman's affection stands off in the background to the right accompanied by his dog and holding a nosegay in his right hand. As Christie's points out: "This present version is imbued with more emotional charge, as Collinson shows the young suitor carving the initials of his beloved into a tree."
Link to Related Material
Bibliography
"Face Time: People in Art through the Ages" (23 June 2020): lot 4. Christie's. Web. 8 March 2024.
Parkinson, Ronald. The Pre-Raphaelites. London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1984, cat. 93, 169.
Reynolds, Graham. "The Pre-Raphaelites and their Circle." Apollo XCIII (1971): 498.
Rossetti, William Michael. "Fine Arts. The British Institution." The Spectator XXXI (20 February 1858): 218.
Created 8 March 2024