"Laura in Avignon," by William Cave Thomas (1820-1896)

Laura in Avignon, by William Cave Thomas (1820-1896). 1852. Oil on canvas. 11 x 14 7/8 inches (28 x 37.5 cm). Private collection. Sold Philips, London, 8 October 1996. Image kindly provided by the author.

Thomas exhibited this picture at the Royal Academy in 1852, no. 448, accompanied by these lines from an unknown source in the catalogue for the exhibition: "The sage Sennuccio, as he walked of late/ Beyond the city, met my sainted love, etc." The painting was later exhibited at the International Exhibition held at South Kensington, London, in 1862, no. 762, lent by its current owner Lord Taunton. When the painting was offered for sale by Christie, Manson & Wood (16 March 1912, lot 31), the catalogue recorded that it was formerly in the collection of B. G. Windus Esq.

When it was shown at the Royal Academy a reviewer for The Builder felt "Laura in Avignon (448), by Mr. Cave Thomas will repay a close examination" (311). A critic for The Art Journal admired its sunlight effect:

No. 448. Laura in Avignon, W. C. Thomas. The feeling of this work is that of the P.R.B. school, but it may be said with less affectation in drawing and proportion. The great point of the work is its daylight, which we may say sunlight effect. The subject is found in the verse of Petrarch which tells how "the sage Sennuccio" rebuked a fop who sought to attract the attraction of Laura in the street. The subject wants interest; it does not speak for itself. The costume reminds us of that of the Florentine guilds. [172-73]

Sennuccio del Bene was a Florentine poet and a friend of Petrarch who was exiled to Avignon for his political beliefs. He died in Avignon in 1349 from the Black Death.

The reviewer for The Athenaeum felt this work reminded him of an illuminated medieval missal:

Mr. W. C. Thomas in No. 448 restores Laura to Avignon as it was in her lifetime. The sage Sennuccio, orientally attired, touches his white "wideawake" to a pale and plain lady, and reproves a mediaevally clad coxcomb, who looks upon the pious maiden somewhat irreverently, and as a modern dandy might at a fair Bennettite Belgravian; – a beggar woman and a boy on a pine-apple-laden donkey approve of the sage Sennuccio. The pavement reminds us of apple dumplings. The composition is well studied, – although the general tones are flat and tame. Here, as is common in the case of these ultra Pre-Raphaelites, the mediaeval missal recurs to the spectator. [582]

Critics for The Illustrated London News felt this picture merited being reviewed twice. In the first the reviewer complained of its pedantic nature:

W. C. Thomas's Laura in Avignon (448) is of the new experimental school, in its most pedantic mood…. The scene might be made a very striking one, particularly if the Master Sennuccio had a cane in his hand; but the association of such celestial abstractions as the "sage" and the "sainted" Laura with anything breathing in this lower world is an incongruity which no effort of art can reconcile. People stare at the strange figures, and wonder what they mean; and many who do not read the quotation to the end, are fain to imagine that the little costermonger on the donkey is laughing at the queer-looking "sage," instead of the victim of his rebuke. We hope we shall have less of this sort of mummery in future. Let us, by all means, revive the strong points of early art; but, in reviving, free them from the gloom of the cloister, in which they were for many ages confined, to their great detriment and the world's loss. [407]

This same periodical later remarked on the painting again, this time lamenting its colouring, when a wood engraving of the work was reproduced on page 505:

We have already spoken of Mr. W. C. Thomas's Laura of Avignon [sic] described in a former Number. The peculiar formality observable in the arrangement and treatment of the figures will be appreciated on an inspection of our Engraving, but the story will not be understood except by the aid of the lines of the poet, which, therefore, we reproduce: –

The sage Sennuccio, as he walked of late
Beyond the city, met my sainted love,
Passed and saluted her with rev'rent state,
As noble hearts their admiration prove.
Whiles she with holy book, – calm thoughts of good,
Glided unconscious of all outward show,
In the regality of womanhood –
The light of virtue beaming from her brow.
A coxcomb lounging in the public way,
With head reverted, tricked in full conceit,
Expectant sought reward from her sweet face:
"Thou fool!" Sennuccio cried, which made some stay.
Who laughed outright at the poor fop's self-cheat,
So blind is folly to most holy grace.

We understand that Mr. Thomas rejects being classed in general terms with the new "Pre-Raffaellite" school, and, we believe, belongs to a narrower circle, styling themselves "Idealists." Now the distinction between the "Idealists" and "Naturalists" at the earlier periods of the "revival" in Italy is well known to those who read in the history of art; but we confess we cannot see how it is realised in the work before us, which wants the real, unaffected devotional character which engrossed the whole attention of the Idealists of old. Whatever may be said of the composition, however, the colouring is reprehensible as being utterly regardless of the rules of harmony. The prevailing tone is a cold grey, the only bright spots being the crimson and green cloak of Sennuccio, the olive and amber cloak of Laura, and the crimson doublet of the coxcomb. [505-06]

A reviewer for The Spectator felt this work would raise Thomas in the public's opinion: in an early review it stated: "Mr. Cave Thomas's Laura in Avignon – which shows how much progress his been made in colour by this rising painter" (422). A later review praised Thomas's draughtsmanship:

If we are not mistaken, Mr. W. Cave Thomas's Laura at Avignon calls for notice among the subjects of invention. The sonnet appended to the title certainly does not come from Petrarch, though sufficiently Petrarchlike in style; nor, so far as we can remember, is the incident reported in any writing relative to "Madonna Laura." The lady "che sola a me par donna,"" [who alone seems like a woman to me] as her lover said, is reverently saluted, in passing, by Sennuccio del Bene, and impudently gazed after by a coxcomb; against whom, however, Sennuccio turns the laugh. High qualities of draughtsmanship, a manly gravity of feeling, and a method of colour, whose remarkable clearness is not altogether exempt from hardness and chill, will it once be perceived in this picture. The arrangement of the figures, and the way in which the story is told, are quite satisfactory. We have some individual objections to make, however. Laura is not very young, (which, it may doubtless be answered, she need not be) and is thoughtful almost to severity, rather than beautiful; while the fop is by no means a type of a fop, although the action presents him in this light exclusively, but a gentleman with a rather military air. Moreover, the whole background is faint to an excess which there is nothing at all to justify. But the sureness of the artist cannot be mistaken; and the present work will undoubtedly raise him, as it ought to do, in public estimation. [519]