The Outlaw

William Lindsay Windus 1822 - 1907

Summary

Two figures hide in scrubland in the centre foreground of a leafy landscape seen from a high angle. They are a woman cradling the head of an injured man. She is wearing Medieval-style dress and leans forward over the man with a protective gesture, wrapping her left arm around his head, supporting his back with her right arm, and turning her head to one side with an apprehensive expression on her face. The man, largely obscured by his companion, has an arrow protruding from his chest or shoulder, which he holds with his right hand. In the top right corner is a tiny bloodhound bounding down the grassy slope. A pair of tall, slender trees divide the composition on the left.The overall impression is of greenness, as thick woodland fills the top of the picture. No specific story has been associated with the picture, and yet it invites a narrative. The frame is of gilt softwood with an arched slip frame. It is plain with ribbon beading and leafy moulding along the outer edge.

Display Label

Gallery text panel The Pre-Raphaelites in their Time Britain's first and best-known radical art movement emerged from within the Royal Academy in 1848. Its original members were rebellious art students who were disillusioned with contemporary practice. They looked back to Italian art before Raphael, seeing the pre-1500 period as one of great sincerity. They called themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In an age of rapid industrial and urban expansion, Pre-Raphaelite artists like Rossetti, Hunt and Millais, and pioneering design reformers such as William Morris, sought a return to pre-industrial values of art and design in truth to nature and materials, and good workmanship. In addition, the arts of the Middle Ages and Middle East were important sources of stylistic inspiration. The Bible, literature and contemporary life were preferred over subjects derived from classical mythology. The Brotherhood also rejected contrived studio lighting and took canvases outside to paint directly from nature. Although attempting to convey exactly what they saw, they created a heightened reality of dream-like intensity with minute details and bright, dazzling colours. Their art was a new kind of history painting for a new age.