FORD MADOX BROWN
(1821-1893)
 

The Death of Sir Tristram – Sketch for Stained Glass  

c.1863

watercolour and pencil on paper,

10.8 x 9.5 cm

inscribed: MFB         

on reverse in pencil: Death of Sir Tristram by Ford Madox Brown in swap for study near the Pyramids of Ghizah by the latter

given by him to G P Boyce April 13 1865

P.298

This illustrates the story of Tristram and Iseult from Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (d.1471). Sir Tristram, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, was dispatched to Ireland to bring Iseult the Fair back as his uncle’s bride. Before they sailed Iseult’s mother, Queen Isaud, brewed a love potion which she gave to Brangwain, Iseult’s attendant, with instructions that the pair were to drink it on their wedding night. Brangwain carelessly left the flask in the cabin and, being thirsty, Tristram and Iseult drank it and immediately fell in love. Iseult married Mark but continued to love Tristram. When he and Iseult were seen together by Mark, Tristram was banished from Cornwall and came to Camelot where King Arthur made him a Knight of the Round Table.

Later Tristram marries another woman, also named Iseult. When dying of a poisoned wound he sent for Iseult the Fair to cure him. She set sail at once but his wife, in her jealousy, lied saying that there was no sign of her ship  and Tristram died. When Iseult the Fair arrived and found him dead she too died and they were buried in one grave. King Mark, furiously jealous, is seen behind the lovers although he does not appear there in the story.

Brown was born in Calais and studied in Antwerp and Paris. He came to England where he entered – unsuccessfully – the competitions to decorate the Palace of Westminster. In 1845 he went to Rome and made contact with the Nazarenes, which increased his interest in medievalism (see The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry in the Gallery’s collection).

Back in England he became friends with ROSSETTI and would have joined the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood if Holman HUNT had not objected to his ‘germanic’ style. Later he became more interested in realism which led to his masterpieces, Work and The Last of England and to some remarkable plein-air landscapes. Madox Brown was a prickly man who was at odds with the artistic establishment, which led him to abandon exhibiting at the R.A. after 1853.

This watercolour appears as a stained glass window commissioned by Walter Dunlop for Harden Grange, near Bingley, from Morris & Co.The stained glass is inscribed with the following caption: ‘How Sir Tristram and King Mark were made one again by King Arthur’s means and how nevertheless King Mark slew Sir Tristram by treachery as he sat harping to La Belle Isoude and Isoude died the third day after.’

EJ

PROVENANCE: Given by artist to G.P.Boyce 1865; Boyce Sale Christie’s 2 July 1897, lot 128; Hoeue; Edward Marsh; Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, from whom purchased by Gallery, July 1959.

EXHIBITIONS: Spring Exhibition, London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1904, no.500; Watercolours and Drawings from The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, London, Thos. Agnew & Sons Ltd, 1962, no.36; Matthew Arnold Centenary, Grasmere, Wordsworth Trust, 1988.

REFERENCES: F.M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown: a record of his life and work, London, 1896, p.440; Walker Art Gallery, Ford Madox Brown, 1964, p.28, no.47; Birmingham City Art Gallery & Museum, Catalogue of Paintings, 1960, p.21, no.2616.; D. Robinson & S. Wildman, Morris & Company in Cambridge, 1980, pp.71-72, no.93; A.C. Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his circle- A Catalogue, 1975, pp.26-7.

Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Extract taken from Watercolours and Drawings, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery by Evelyn Joll.