The Grey Parrot (The Pet Parrot) , c.1852-53. Oil on canvas, 21 x 137/8 inches (53.5 x 35.2 cm) Collection of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, accession no. (569-2). Click on image to enlarge it.
The Grey Parrotshows a young middle-class woman seated in a chair in right profile with a book of poetry open on her lap. She is wearing a daytime dress of dark charcoal grey, accented by a white lace collar and cuffs, and with a blue bow at its neckline. Her hair is braided and wound around the nape of her neck and then twisted around the top of her head. With her left hand she is caressing the parrot perched on her right hand. The parrot is a greyish-green colour with red tail feathers. In the background is a window, lending depth to the composition, half covered with a white curtain. The model for the young woman was Eustatia Elizabeth Davy [Davie].
In March 1853 Deverell recorded in his journal: “Sent off to the Suffolk Street [Society of British Artists] two pictures – ‘The Grey Parrot’ and ‘Eustatia.’ They are both an advance as far as strength of effect is concerned – but the colour to my eye seems to be heavy and dull. On these I have tried the effect of glasses over them which in my opinion not only serves in the most wonderful way to preserve oil pictures as I have found from personal experience but also takes off all the little blemishes of the surface and gives atmospheric quality to the colour” (Lytyens, Deverell, 89). When the small study for this work was shown at The British Institution in 1853 William Michael Rossetti, the critic of The Spectator, commented: “The slight pictures of small size include a sketch by Mr. Deverell, ‘The Pet Parrot,’ very unaffected and pretty” (158). When the principal version was shown at the Society of British Artists W. M. Rossetti writing in The Spectator was again complimentary:
The two best painted and most pleasing single figures – ‘The Pet Parrot,’ and ‘Eustatia,’ by Mr. Deverell – are shabbily banished to the Water-colour Room. Of the first a small study appeared in the British Institution. In the finished sketch there is a certain severity in the young lady’s face, and the subdued colour, harmonious enough as it is, is somewhat leaden: but the grace, feeling and capacity, of a true artist, are visible at every point. The parrot, crimping his eyes up in brooding enjoyment under his mistress’s caressing hand, is capital. [326]
Elaine Shefer, who argues that The Grey Parrot offers several levels of meaning, points out that “from a conventional point of view, the painting seems to be no more than a repetition of the ubiquitous theme of ‘the woman at the window,’ only this time with the added motif of a bird in the lady’s hand. Like the window, the bird motif has more than one meaning. Realistically, it served an age that called on a woman of gentility to ‘cultivate’ the ‘love of things gentle’ by keeping pet birds; pets also served as companions for single women confined to the home.” Parrots in particular were popular as such household pets. According to Shefer,
Deverell picked not only a parrot but the Grey African (Psittacus erithacus). His choice of this bird adds another layer of meaning to the painting. The most outstanding feature of the Grey…is that it is ‘the most brilliantly gifted of all talking birds…The Grey’s ability to imitate the inflections of the human voice perfectly was one reason why it was recommended for ‘anyone who has to live alone.’ A delicate bird, needing a great deal of attention, it suffered, however, from boredom and loneliness if confined to a cage. That explains why Deverell’s Grey is outside of his cage (which is not even depicted) and why both the woman and the bird contentedly remain in their respective cages even though the window is open and both may fly away. Instead they seem to accept the ‘cage’ as their home and not as a prison…Implying more than companionship, Deverell sympathetically draws the woman and bird into intimate contact. The parrot is perched on her right hand while her free left hand lovingly strokes his head, which is set very close to her own face…the intimacy is still further confirmed by the book of poetry on her lap, as if she had been reading to the bird. The idea of revealing matters of the heart to a creature who could respond of his own volition is not extraordinary…Deverell’s painting affirms the old axiom that ‘a pet parrot will become extremely attached to its owner provided its affection is returned…The Grey Parrot may thus depict more than a single, lonely young woman talking to her parrot…Deverell’s woman is in solemn communication with the male as symbolically represented by the bird. [438-40]
Bibliography
“Fine Arts. The British Institution,” Spectator. 26, (1853): 158,
Rossetti, William Michael. “Exhibition of The Society of British Artists,” Spectator 26 (April 2, 1853): 326.
Shefer, Elaine. “Deverell, Rossetti, Siddal, and ‘The Bird in the Cage’.” The Art Bulletin, 67 (September 1985): 437-448.
Links to Related Material
- Deverell’s pencil sketch for the painting
- Walter Deverell’s The Grey Parrot and the Angel in the House
Last modified 9 March 2022