Chastity “So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity, etc.” Comus

William Edward Frost, RA, 1810-1877

Signed and dated 1854

Oil on board

21 x 16 ½ inches

Exhibited Royal Academy, 1854, no. 330

With Thomas Agnew & Sons; with Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1991; William E. Fischelis, Jr.

[See commentary below]

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The title, taken from Milton, runs: 'So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lackey her'. Chastity is not a virtue often associated with Frost's nudes, yet this head is the embodiment of it. The message is complex, for this is not a conventional image — she is wearing dark green, not white, and her hair is let down, not modestly held in plaits or a bun. The Victorians would have appreciated differences between chastity and purity, and whilst chastity is deliberate sexual abstinence, it does not preclude temptation, nor even previous experience. It would also have been appreciated that although the girl in the picture has her eyes cast slightly up, they are not cast all the way to Heaven. — Rupert Maas

References

The Maas Gallery [Exhibition Catalogue]. London: Maas Gallery, 2010. Catalogue number 46.

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William E.
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Last modified 16 June 2010