Scene from A Sentimental Journey
Oil Painting
1841 (painted)
1841 (painted)
| Artist/Maker |
W.P. Frith's painting is based upon an episode in Laurence's Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). Visiting Paris, the Reverend Mr. Yorick asks a beautiful young woman for directions, then forgets them and comes back to the shop to ask again. He compliments her by saying "you must have one of the best pulses of any woman in the world", and she replies "Feel it..." Sterne continues:
"I had counted twenty pulsations, and was going on fast towards the fortieth, when the husband, coming unexpected from a back-parlour into the shop, put me a little out in my reckoning. - 'Twas nobody but her husband, she said - so I began a fresh score. - Monsieur is so good, quoth she, as he pass'd by us, to give himself the trouble of feeling my pulse. - The husband took off his hat, and making me a bow, said, I did him too much honour... "
The novelist refers to her as a "grisette", a working woman sometimes employed as a shop assistant or garment maker. Yorick eventually buys some gloves, pays the woman and departs.
Frith produced a number of works that interpret scenes from Sterne's novels. The Laurence Sterne Trust holds a painting entitled The Beautiful Grisette (1853), which shows the shop counter separating the parson and the woman.
"I had counted twenty pulsations, and was going on fast towards the fortieth, when the husband, coming unexpected from a back-parlour into the shop, put me a little out in my reckoning. - 'Twas nobody but her husband, she said - so I began a fresh score. - Monsieur is so good, quoth she, as he pass'd by us, to give himself the trouble of feeling my pulse. - The husband took off his hat, and making me a bow, said, I did him too much honour... "
The novelist refers to her as a "grisette", a working woman sometimes employed as a shop assistant or garment maker. Yorick eventually buys some gloves, pays the woman and departs.
Frith produced a number of works that interpret scenes from Sterne's novels. The Laurence Sterne Trust holds a painting entitled The Beautiful Grisette (1853), which shows the shop counter separating the parson and the woman.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Scene from <i>A Sentimental Journey</i> (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on canvas |
| Brief description | Oil painting, 'Scene from Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey', William Powell Frith, 1841 |
| Dimensions |
|
| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'W P Frith 1841' (Signed by the artist, lower right) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | Bequeathed by John Jones, 1882 |
| Literary reference | Laurence Sterne, <i>A Sentimental Journey</i> |
| Summary | W.P. Frith's painting is based upon an episode in Laurence's Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). Visiting Paris, the Reverend Mr. Yorick asks a beautiful young woman for directions, then forgets them and comes back to the shop to ask again. He compliments her by saying "you must have one of the best pulses of any woman in the world", and she replies "Feel it..." Sterne continues: "I had counted twenty pulsations, and was going on fast towards the fortieth, when the husband, coming unexpected from a back-parlour into the shop, put me a little out in my reckoning. - 'Twas nobody but her husband, she said - so I began a fresh score. - Monsieur is so good, quoth she, as he pass'd by us, to give himself the trouble of feeling my pulse. - The husband took off his hat, and making me a bow, said, I did him too much honour... " The novelist refers to her as a "grisette", a working woman sometimes employed as a shop assistant or garment maker. Yorick eventually buys some gloves, pays the woman and departs. Frith produced a number of works that interpret scenes from Sterne's novels. The Laurence Sterne Trust holds a painting entitled The Beautiful Grisette (1853), which shows the shop counter separating the parson and the woman. |
| Bibliographic reference | Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 106 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 556-1882 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | April 30, 2007 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest
