William Holman Hunt, The Awakening Conscience 1853
Summary
The Awakening Conscience was conceived as the material counterpart to Hunt's The Light of the World (1851-3, Warden and Fellows of Keble College, Oxford). Its inspiration was a verse from Proverbs: 'As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart'. With his typical thoroughness, Hunt hired a room at Woodbine Villa, 7 Alpha Place, St John's Wood, a 'maison de convenance', to use as the setting. A gentleman has installed his mistress (known to be such because of her absence of a wedding ring) in a house for their meetings. As they play and sing to Thomas Moore's Oft in the Stilly Night, she has a sudden spiritual revelation. Rising from her lover's lap, she gazes into the sunlit garden beyond, which is reflected in the mirror behind her. The mirror image represents the woman's lost innocence, but redemption, indicated by the ray of light in the foreground, is still possible. Intended to be 'read', the painting is full of such symbolic elements. The cat toying with the broken-winged bird under the table symbolises the woman's plight. A man's discarded glove warns that the likely fate of a cast-off mistress was prostitution. A tangled skein of yarn on the floor symbolises the web in which the girl is entrapped… (read more)
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
William Holman Hunt
(18)
Category
Painting
(5,322)
Decade
1850-9
(402)
Style or ‘-ism’
19th century
(865)
Pre-Raphaelite
(405)
Subject
architecture
(30,435)
garden structures
(817)
garden
(414)
emotions, concepts and ideas
(7,970)
emotions and human qualities
(1,746)
interiors
(2,405)
domestic
(1,246)
living room
(243)
leisure and pastimes
(3,120)
music and entertainment
(856)
music
(317)
nature
(37,449)
animals: birds
(1,010)
bird
(321)
animals: mammals
(4,211)
cat
(126)
natural phenomena
(1,949)
reflection
(590)
plants and flowers
(1,741)
convolvulus
(6)
objects
(12,243)
clothing and personal effects
(3,860)
fine arts and music
(1,753)
embroidery
(9)
instrument, piano
(59)
furnishings
(1,928)
reading, writing, printed matter
(1,854)
scientific and measuring
(406)
clock
(58)
people
(21,186)
actions: expressive
(1,998)
actions: postures and motions
(6,764)
hands clasped
(115)
portraits: female
(944)
Miller, Annie
(3)
places
(23,428)
UK countries and regions
(10,976)
England
(8,180)
religion and belief
(2,375)
Bible: Old Testament
(290)
Proverbs
(1)
universal religious imagery
(671)
sin
(9)
society
(14,246)
sex and relationships
(742)
flirtation
(41)
mistress
(5)
social comment
(1,563)
morality
(50)
symbols & personifications
(4,830)
abstract concepts
(119)
religious
(92)
Christ - light
(1)