William Charles Thomas Dobson, R.A. (1817-1898)

Dobson painted a larger version of this painting, dated 1856 (41 x 34 in.), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857 (no. 556) and is now in the Tate. By 1857 the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was being felt at the Royal Academy exhibition leading John Ruskin to proclaim 'A singular change has taken place...Meaning simply that the battle is completely and confessedly won...; that animosity has changed to emulation...and a true and consistent school of art is at last established'. Dobson, an exponent of this new 'school' won praise for the picture when it was exhibited at the Academy that year: 'The purity and sweetness of this work, with its exquisite colour and the chastity of its expression, render it a production of rare excellence...,' wrote the Art Journal critic, going on, 'the composition is extremely simple, the group are relieved only by a background of trees; but its force of relief is its least quality; the high tone of the picture is such as is rarely attained' (Art Journal, 1857, p. 174).