19thC: The Domestic Sphere

The nineteenth century was a period during which the family was defined in modern Western European terms. The growth of the middle class and the increase in industrial employment in towns led to the establishment of the two spheres of home and work. Men were expected to go out to work and women to stay at home to manage the household.

Slide 1: Arthur Hughes, ‘April Love’ 1856

Hughes_April_Love_1856

Slide 2: Philip Calderon, ‘Broken Vows’ 1856

Slide 3: George Elgar Hicks, ‘Woman’s Mission: Guide to Childhood’ 1863 (now lost)

Hicks Guide of Childhood

Slide 4: George Elgar Hicks, ‘Woman’s Mission: Companion of Manhood’ 1863, Tate
Hicks_Womans_Mission_Companion_of_Manhood_1863

Slide 5: George Elgar Hicks, ‘Woman’s Mission: Comfort of Old Age’ 1863 (now lost)

Hicks Comfort of Old Age

Slide 6: C.W. Cope, ‘Life Well Spent’ 1862
Cope_The_Innkeepers_Daughter

Slide 7: Philip Calderon, ‘Lord! Thy Will be Done’ 1855

Calderon Lord, Thy Will Be Done

Slide 8: William Holman Hunt, ‘The Awakening Conscience’ 1853
Hunt_The_Awakening_Conscience_1853

Slide 9: William Holman Hunt, ‘The Light of the World’ 1851-3
Hunt_The_Light_of_the_World_1851-3

Slide 10: Alfred Elmore, ‘On the Brink’ 1865
Elmore_On_the_Brink_1865

Slide 11: William Hogarth, ‘The Lady’s Last Stake’ 1758
Hogarth_The_Ladys_Last_Stake_1758

Slide 12: A.L. Egg, ‘Past and Present: I’ 1858
Egg_Past_and_Present_I_1858

Slide 13: A.L. Egg, ‘Past and Present: II’ 1858
Egg_Past_and_Present_II_1858

Slide 14: .A.L. Egg, ‘Past and Present: III’ 1858
Egg_Past_and_Present_III_1858

Augustus Leopold Egg. Past and Present (III) The wife abandoned by her lover with her bastard child, 1858, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. Tate Gallery, London.

Slide 15: R.B. Martineau, ‘The Last Day in the Old Home’ 1861
Martineau_The_Last_day_in_the_Old_Home_1861

Slide 16: Richard Redgrave, ‘The Outcast’ 1851
Redgrave_The_Outcast_1851

(These are notes of a course given at Birkbeck College by Carol Jacobi in 2005/2006)

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