Preliminary Sketch for “Griselda’s First Trial of Patience”

Charles West Cope (1811–1890)

1848

Oil wash, mahogany panel

75,5 x 49,5 cm (29 3/4 x 19 1/2")

Provenance: bought as Lot 326, Addison’s, Barnard Castle, 26th June 2014

The Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art

The picture represents a scene from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, namely, The Clerk’s Tale, Part III: Griselda’s First Trial of Patience. (The story was borrowed by Chaucer himself from Petrarch and Boccaccio). [continued below]

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art and and the National Gallery of Slovenia and the Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway (2) and link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.

Commentary by Paul Crowther

The Marquis of Saluzzo in northern Italy gives in to requests from his subjects and agrees to marry. His choice of wife is Griselda, a peasant’s daughter, and he demands a promise of absolute obedience from her. To test her commitment, he has her recently born daughter taken away – allegedly to be executed. Six years later, this strategy is repeated for their recently born son. In neither case does Griselda contest the Marquis’s decision. The children are brought up elsewhere, but are eventually given back to Griselda. Cope’s picture represents the moment when Griselda’s child is taken away, aggressively, by the Marquis’s sergeant. The other personae in the image are Griselda’s attendants, and the Marquis himself (sneakily watching events from a window in the background). In the background are the towers of Saluzzo and Alpine foothills.

The painting is a detailed study for a fresco by Cope in the so called ‘Poets Hall’ in the Houses of Parliament, London. (The room is now known as the Upper Waiting Hall). Between 1848 and 1854 six artists worked on eight frescoes representing scenes from major works of British literature. Cope’s picture was one of the first to be completed – in October, 1848. The frescoes deteriorated almost immediately after completion, and have only recently been properly restored.

Bibliography

Crowther, Paul. Awakening Beauty: The Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art. Exhibition catalogue. Ljubljana: National Gallery of Slovenia; Galway: Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, 2014. No. 19.

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Last modified 24 November 2014