Claudio and Isabella

Painting by William Holman Hunt

Claudio and Isabella

Claudio: Death is a fearful thing
Isabella: And shamed life is hateful

Artist| William Holman Hunt
Year| 1850
Medium| Oil on Mahogany
Dimensions| 997 cm × 668 cm (393 in × 263 in)
Location| Tate Britain, London, UK

Claudio and Isabella is an 1850 Pre-Raphaelite oil painting by the English artist William Holman Hunt. It is based on a scene from William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. In this scene, Isabella is made to choose between sacrificing her brother's life or sacrificing her virginity to Angelo. Hunt's image attempts to depict the characters' tangible emotions in the moment that this choice must be made.[1] Hunt summarized the moral as: ‘Thou shall not do evil that good may come.’[2]

Isabella's purity is reflected by her upright position, her plain white habit, and the sun shining on her through the window, out of which a church can be seen in the distance. Her brother Claudio, shackled to the wall, clearly uncomfortable in both mind and body. He is turned away from his sister, ashamed of the circumstances that brought them here and confronted with the fear of his own imminent death.[1]

When it was first put on display at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1853 it was accompanied by a quotation from the play:[2]

> 'Tis too horrible!

> The weariest, and most loathed worldly life, That age, ache penury and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death.

> In 1864 Hunt issued a pamphlet advertising the engraving of Claudio and Isabella, in which he summarised the picture's 'deep and noble moral' as 'Thou shall not do evil that good may come.'

> — Measure for Measure, Act III, scene I

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Prettejohn, Elizabeth (2000). The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. London. pp. 144–146.
2. ^ a b "Claudio and Isabella". Tate Britain. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

* v
* t
* e

William Holman Hunt

Paintings|

* Rienzi (1849)
* A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids (1849–1850)
* Claudio and Isabella (1850)
* The Hireling Shepherd (1851)
* Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus (1851)
* Our English Coasts (1852)
* The Awakening Conscience (1853)
* The Scapegoat (1854–1855; 1854–1856)
* The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1860)
* London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales (1864)
* Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1868)
* The Shadow of Death (1873)
* The Miracle of the Holy Fire (1892–1899)
* The Lady of Shalott (c. 1888–1905)

Painting series|

* The Light of the World (1849–1854; 1851–1856; 1900–1904)

Related|

* Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
* The Germ
* Hogarth Club
* Diana Holman-Hunt (granddaughter)
* The Love School (1975 miniseries)
* Desperate Romantics (2009 miniseries)

This article about a painting from the 1850s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[c.]: circa