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Notes

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This is a copy of a painting by Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora (1445/5–1497). In a lecture to the Society of Painters in Tempera in 1902, Herringham described the original painting as one of the best tempera paintings on display at the National Gallery. It is a fragment from a set of panels illustrating the ‘Triumphs’ series of poems by Petrarch (1304 – c. 1374), intended as decoration for household furniture. In this picture Cupid has leapt from his chariot to begin his combat with Chastity. Chastity is armed with a shield and a chainlike whip which she will use to bind her opponent. It is Chastity who will eventually triumph.

Roger Fry said that it was whilst copying paintings in the National Gallery that Christiana met Ruskin and corrected his assumption that the early works she was studying had been painted in oil.

Royal Holloway, University of London

Egham

Title

A Battle of Love and Chastity

Date

1885–1901

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 45.8 x W 38 cm

Accession number

P1279

Acquisition method

presented to Bedford College by Sir Wilmot Herringham, 1918. Acquired on the merger with Bedford College, 1985

Work type

Painting

Royal Holloway, University of London

Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX England

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Artist or maker

Christiana Jane Herringham

1852–1929

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