So those two bethren from the chariot took 1913

Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale created this painting, “So those two brethren from the chariot took,” with watercolor to conjure a scene full of mythical, medieval magic! Look at the dark pigments, the soft lines and blurred forms and imagine Fortescue-Brickdale in her studio, layering washes of color, maybe even tilting the board to let the pigments flow and mingle. She’s using a Pre-Raphaelite language to express a longing for romance and fantasy. The Pre-Raphaelites looked back to the art of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance for inspiration, and here we see that influence in the details like the flowing robes and the decorative patterning on the pall covering the body. The mourners, monk and musician, enact a scene of gentle pathos. The artist’s interest in narrative and storytelling reminds me of other painters, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who used similar subjects and styles to create their own versions of medieval life. Painters like Fortescue-Brickdale are engaged in an ongoing conversation about beauty, love, and loss, using images to evoke a feeling that lingers long after we've left the gallery.