European Painting before 1900, Johnson Collection Portrait of Frances Burdett as Emma the Nut-Brown Maid Made in England, Europe1761 Francis Cotes, English, 1726 - 1770 Oil on canvas * Gallery 298, European Art 1500-1850, second floor 1989-70-5 Gift of Muriel and Philip Berman, 1989 |
LabelIn the fifteenth-century ballad “The Nut-Brown Maid,” a young girl’s fidelity is tested when she is asked to follow her outlaw lover into the woods and into an uncertain, troubled future. When she promises to do so and thus proves her love, her lover reveals that he is, in fact, a nobleman. Rewritten in 1709 as a poem by Matthew Prior, and later made into a play, the story of Emma, the Nut-Brown Maid delighted eighteenth-century readers. Many women desired to have their portraits painted as the character Emma, and were often shown, as here, hanging a wreath made of flowers and their lover’s hair on a tree branch.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
