I know a maiden fair to see, take care, 1868
Charles Edward Peruginiexpand_more
Oil on paper laid down on canvasexpand_more
The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, and gift of funds from Ruth and Bruce Dayton, Darwin and Geri Reedy, Kevin and Polly Hart, and Ford Bellexpand_more 2003.204
On View in Gallery 357expand_more
This picture illustrates a passage from a German ballad translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1843:
"I know a maiden fair to see, / Take care! / She can both false and friendly be, / Beware! Beware! / Trust her not / She is fooling thee."
The Italian-born Perugini arrived in London in 1863, where he apprenticed to Frederic Leighton. The model in this picture appears in several Leighton oils of the mid-1860s and is probably Rosetti's model and mistress, Fanny Cornforth. Perugini exhibited his painting at the Royal Academy in 1868, the same year that Leighton exhibited the Institute's Jonathan's Token to David. Perugini's picture was acquired at that exhibition by the great Pre-Raphaelite master, John Everett Millais. In 1873, Perugini married Kate Dickens, the daughter of Charles Dickens. He would become a very fashionable painter of neo-classical subjects, yet he rarely surpassed the enchanting virtuosity of this early masterwork.
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Details
- Title
- I know a maiden fair to see, take care
- Artist Life
- (born Italy), 1839 - 1918
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2003.204
- Curator Approved
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