Archibald Wakley (1873-1906)
A Royal Princess
signed and dated 'ARCHIBALD/WAKLEY/1903' (lower right) and further signed, inscribed and dated 'No 1./A Royal Princess/"But a vain shadow./If one considereth;/Vanity of Vanities,/As the Preacher saith."/C. Rosetti [sic.]/Archibald Wakley/76A Monmouth Road./Westbourne Grove./Bayswater./London W.' (on an old label attached to the reserve)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gold
19¾ x 24¾ in. (50.2 x 62.9 cm.)
Wakley's inspiration for this sumptuous depiction of a Medieval Royal court was Christina Rossetti's 1868 poem Mother Country, in which she imagines a heaven where Queen and handmaid will be equals, reflecting in the final verse on how life is but 'a vain shadow' of the new life that will begin after death.
A follower of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, as evident in both the subject and style of this watercolour, Wakley's short-lived career showed great promise and he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1906, the same year in which he was brutally murdered in his studio.
Wakley's inspiration for this sumptuous depiction of a Medieval Royal court was Christina Rossetti's 1868 poem Mother Country, in which she imagines a heaven where Queen and handmaid will be equals, reflecting in the final verse on how life is but 'a vain shadow' of the new life that will begin after death.
A follower of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, as evident in both the subject and style of this watercolour, Wakley's short-lived career showed great promise and he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1906, the same year in which he was brutally murdered in his studio.
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