Rosalind Witnessing the Encounter of Jaques and Orlando in the Forest (Rosalind and Celia as Ganymede and Aliena in the Forest of Arden), c.1850. Oil on panel, 273/4 x 361/4 inches (70.5 x 91.9 cm). Collection of Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, accession no. TWCMS:B4206. Click on image to enlarge it.
This subject is taken from William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, Act III, scene ii. In the play we find that Orlando and Jaques dislike each other and exchange a series of insults until they part with Jaques walking off into the forest leaving Orlando alone. Rosalind disguised as Ganymede, and Celia disguised as the shepherdess Aliena, hide and eavesdrop on the conversation between Jaques and Orlando. Orlando has been running through the Forest of Ardenne hanging poems he has composed in Rosalind’s honour on every tree, a copy of which can be seen lying on the ground to the right of Celia’s head.
Deverell painted the landscape on the spot, likely in the Combe Wood, and added most of the figures later in the studio. The artist’s brother Spencer and sister Margaretta posed for the two main characters of Orlando and Rosalind. Rosalind disguised as the young man Ganymede is in the right centre of the picture. W. M. Rossetti recorded in The P.R.B. Journal that this painting was “pretty nearly finished” in October 1850 (72). Despite the fact the painting was finished it was never exhibited in Deverell’s lifetime, perhaps because he was dissatisfied with the uneasy balance between the figures and landscape in the composition.
Bibliography
Fredeman, William E. Ed. The P.R. B. Journal. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
Last modified 9 March 2022