Chaucer at the Court of Edward III
Ford Madox Brown (1821 to 1893) · 1847 to 1851
A tall arched canvas crowded with figures in medieval dress: the poet Geoffrey Chaucer stands at a lectern reading aloud, the old king Edward the Third listens from his chair, the Black Prince and his family sit nearby and courtiers, ladies and a jester fill the sunlit terrace, while a cardinal in red dozes at the side. Beyond the wall, the Thames and a bright sky. It is a celebration of the English language, painted with brilliant colour and the odd, sharply detailed realism of the young Pre-Raphaelites.
Ford Madox Brown began the picture in 1847, intending it as the centre of a triptych on the seeds of English poetry, and finished it in 1851. While he was working on it he became the mentor of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the painting shows the Pre-Raphaelite manner taking shape: every face is a portrait of a friend, every fabric is painted from a real object, and the shadows are coloured rather than brown. Look for Rossetti himself, who posed for Chaucer, and at the tiny details, the fringe of the carpet, the greyhound, the child asleep in the foreground. The original arched frame is part of the design.
The gallery bought the painting in 1876, its first major European purchase, when the trustees wanted a great picture to anchor their new collection, and it has been on display since before the present building existed. It is the most important Pre-Raphaelite work in Australia and one of the largest Brown ever painted. He sold it for far less than it had cost him in years of work, a common story in his difficult career.
Did You Know? The poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti posed for the figure of Chaucer.
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