FULL-TEXT DOCUMENT - HTML Version

Review of the Royal Academy Exhibit. Athenaeum, 1699 (19 May 1860): 688-90.

Mr. Armitage sends two works, both of great merit. May we ask what has the painter of 'Aholibah' been about so long, for it is years since he sustained the reputation won by that splendid picture! The Mother of Moses hiding, after having exposed her Child on the River's Brink (527). This is the half-figure and grand head of the woman placed behind a stone amongst bulrushes, and watching, with great eyes, the finding of her infant. Broad and masterly is the treatment of the theme. We lament that the artist seems to have gone into the other extreme of the principle which induced Mr. Simeon Solomon to paint his Mother of Moses with a countenance in an exaggerated Jewish type. Mr. Armitage's head might be that of an Egyptian woman as well as a daughter of Israel. The broad forehead, spread flat cheeks, square nose, and wide jaw, are in no respect like those the ancient sculptures tell us were possessed by the Egyptians, and are even further removed from those of the children of Jacob. We must, therefore, treat the face as of perfectly ideal type, intended only to convey the universal expression of maternal passion. In this aspect, the picture is a grand and successful work. (page 688, column 3)

Return to Home Page | Secondary Sources: 1858-1905 | All Secondary Sources