Thomas Francis Dicksee (1819-1895)

The tragic story of Amy Robsart (1532-1560), the first wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who died after falling down the stairs at Cumnor Place, Oxfordshire, continues to excite popular opinion centuries after her death. It held particular sway over the Victorian imagination, and portraits, such as this of a beautiful young woman lost in melancholic thoughts, and history paintings of her lying at the foot of the stairwell were popular subjects with artists including Dicksee, and William Frederick Yeames.