Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2D, Shelf DR56, Box SS46

Pyramus and Thisbe

Oil Painting
1850-1882 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Oil painting entitled 'Pyramus and Thisbe' (decorative panel). A semi nude figure looks down at another semi nude figure lying faced down in the ground next to two dogs.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePyramus and Thisbe (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting, 'Pyramus and Thisbe' (decorative panel) by Francis Wollaston Moody. Great Britain, about 1850-1882
Physical description
Oil painting entitled 'Pyramus and Thisbe' (decorative panel). A semi nude figure looks down at another semi nude figure lying faced down in the ground next to two dogs.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 19in
  • Estimate width: 26.5in
Dimensions taken from Summary catalogue of British Paintings, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973
Styles
Object history
Commissioned for the decoration of the South Kensington Museum

Historical significance: Francis Wollaston Moody (1824-1886) was employed at the South Kensington Museum, having joined the Department of Science and Art in 1863. He was one of Godfrey Sykes's assistants, helping to carry out the decoration of the Museum and heading a team of student workers until his resignation in 1882. Moody was also Instructor in Decorative Art at the National Art Training School at South Kensington. From 1880 to 1883 he was an occasional lecturer at the School.

This is one of a series of ten decorative paintings designed by Moody and probably executed by students at the National Art Training Schools. All are painted in grisaille, a method by which shades of grey oil paint are used to create a monochrome composition, a technique which creates the illusion of sculptural form. All ten paintings suggest classical themes. The figures represented are either nude, or dressed in classical draperies.

It seems that these paintings once formed part of the museum's original decoration, possibly in rooms 100 to 101, the National Competition Gallery, although this is not certain. A note on the file suggests that they were taken down and put into store around 1948.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1968 London: HMSO, 1969
  • As told by the Ovid, this story is similar to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It takes place in ancient Babylon, where Pyramus and Thisbe grew up in a one-room house, connected to the neighbouring house. Over the years, they fell in love with each other, but could only talk through a hole in the wall because their parents forbid them to see each other. Finally, Pyramus and Thisbe decided to run off one night and elope. Pyramus gave Thisbe the location of the place they would meet, and they agreed. Thisbe was the first to arrive at the first Mulberry bush outside of the city, but as she was waiting, a lioness walked by with her jaws covered in blood from a previous kill that day. Thisbe, frightened at her sight, ran non-stop to the nearest cave. Soon after, Pyramus walked by and saw a cloak, his love gift to her, covered in blood and torn to pieces with the footprints of the lioness left behind. He immediately thought that his only love had been killed by a hungry lion, and threw himself upon his sword. Thisbe, bringing courage to her heart, ran back to find him lying on the ground next to the blood-covered Mulberry bush with his sword impaling his chest. She gasped in horror as she asked the still breathing Pyramus what happened. Barely able to stay awake, he told her what happened and she cried in sorrow. She took Pyramus' blood-stained sword and asked him to wait for her while she brought the blade into her own soft flesh. This is why the berries on the Mulberry bush are red, instead of their original white, in commemoration of the two young lovers and their great sacrifice.
Collection
Accession number
P.79-1968

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Record createdMay 1, 2007
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