Charles Landseer1799–1879Maria
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
RoomPaintings, Room 82, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Maria is an 1836 oil painting by the English artist Charles Landseer. It is inspired by a passage in the 1768 novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by the Anglo-Irish author Laurence Sterne. It depicts Maria, a mournful young woman left disconsolate by her husband's death. She is accompanied by a small dog.
The painting was displayed at the 1836 exhibition of the British Institution, held at Pall Mall. It was purchased by John Sheepshanks, a noted collector of contemporary British art, who in 1857 donated it to the new Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington as part of the Sheepshanks Gift.
In the museum's words
The subject comes from Laurence Sterne's novel A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). It depicts, 'poor Maria sitting under a poplar...with her elbow in her lap…and her head leaning on one side…dressed in white'. A dog takes the place of her lost lover. The artist was the elder brother of the painter Edwin Landseer.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- FA.104[O]
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
