Our Lady Mary & Child by Alfred Sacheverel Coke (1846-1924). 1870. Oil on canvas. c. 76" x 33" unframed. St Remigius Church, Long Clawson, Leicestershire, reproduced here by kind permission. Right: Closer view of the Madonna holding her child. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Here, the traditional form of a seated Virgin has here been set aside to introduce the strong woman of English Pre-Raphaelite fancy: red-haired, standing, looking capable and maternal, with her magnificent thigh thrust forward under her cloak; compare The Beguiling of Merlin and Princess Sabra by Edward Burne-Jones. A very English baby Jesus sits confidently awaiting his sailor suit. Mary wears the star of Sirius and bears a lily. On the carpet patterned with pinecones symbolising the protection of the Divine Seed, another lily lies dead, maybe signifying the sacrifice of Mary’s virginity in the birth of Jesus.
Signature and date in lower right, in monochrome for clarity.
The blue dress and red cloak, and the setting, are reminiscent of the works of Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling, such as the former's Madonna with Chancellor Nicholas Rolin (The Virgin of Autun) of about 1433, and the latter's Virgin and Child of 1487. There are echoes too of the baldachinos, chequered marble floors, carpets, rear hangings, and background landscapes of these Northern Renaissance paintings — which were also apt to include a lake. But the doves, flowers and animals in Coke's composition replace the subsidiary interest of those artists' other human figures.
Moreover, Coke has used his home countryside as the backdrop. The structure on the right is almost certainly Bolsover Castle near Brimington (Coke's birthpalce); next to it is a colliery winding wheel, a reference to the new coking plant between Brimington and Bolsover: coke ovens were installed at the local Grassmoor colliery in the 1840s. This may well have been a play on his name, too. On the left are a pair of rocks, or standing stones, the right hand one being an accurate likeness of Big Stone at Brand End. The bridge on the left and the round bastion on the right are harder to identify.
Mary herself could be a representation of Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti’s mistress, model and housekeeper at the time.
Created 8 June 2025
Last modified 11 June 2025