The Love Song. William Strang (1859-1921). Source: Furst 175. Compare with the etching of almost the same title. Both feature the central figure of the nude woman, leaning back languorously and listening to her praises. But here the scene is transposed, and a youth with bent head is shown in the foreground, instead of two cherubs. He appears to be working on the lyrics, with some torn papers among the flowers beside him. The balance is better here, the line of the youth's knee softened in the arch of the woman's back, which, in turn, is echoed by the musician's elbow. The youth's knee is almost echoed in the woman's, too. Angularity and pattern (note also the gradual raising of the heads, and the flowers and leaves at opposite corners) are as important here as the figures, and reflect in the visual medium the composition and performance of the love song. The contrast between light and dark, one of Strang's characteristic ploys, is also important, creating drama in what is otherwise close to a tableau.
Image capture, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image, and the original source and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one./p>
Bibliography
Furst, Herbert. "The Paintings of William Strang." The International Studio, Vol. 72 (November 1920-February 1921): 171-77. Intenet Archive. Contributed by Robarts Library, University of Toronto. Web. 8 August 2020.
Created 8 August 2020